We may or may not ever be able to make an announcement that "we're pregnant"...but we have come to understand that the blessing is the fact that however parenthood happens, it is a miracle! ....... Now we have been home with our precious blessing from Russia since August 2007. Join us on our fun and crazy ride that we call "life with this child of mine."
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Jellycat
You may have noticed the word "jellycat" in my header and wondered what, exactly, I am referring to. Honestly, I've been trying to post about Jellycat for a while, but I really wanted some pictures to go along with the post and my camera is never quite ready when Jellycat typically presents himself.

Tonight, though, Iliya was playing before bedtime, and I snapped a few pictures...so now, finally, you can learn about Jellycat.

This cat is a stuffed animal that was given to Iliya when we moved back in October. We stayed with my sister's future inlaws for a month, and the child didn't want to play with any of HIS toys. Nope, he wanted to play with the dogs' toys. So my sister's future MIL got Iliya his very own stuffed animal (new, sans dog slobber) to play with.

The cat's name? Jellycat. Where did that come from? The tag on the cat's rear end. As it turns out, Jellycat is the brand name for the company that makes this particular cat (they make more than cats, too). But since we're not really creative in naming stuffed animals, it's the name that stuck.

And - I guess because it was given to him with the intention of him playing with it - Iliya didn't really play with it too much. It slept in the bed with him, but that was about it.

Until about 2 months ago.

Iliya has never had a "lovey"...I suppose I thought that was a little strange, but unlike many children, he never really grew attached to any particular item, like a blanket or a stuffed animal. And then, about 2 months ago, he started requiring Jellycat before he went to sleep...and would be seen carrying Jellycat around the house...and wanted to take it to school & church with him.

You can't tell it in any of these pictures, but the cat actually has pretty long limbs and tail...which makes taking it in public unsanitary (especially given the fact that Iliya wants it to sleep in the bed with him), so it actually has to stay at home. But Iliya's okay with that, as long as he knows that Jellycat will be waiting on him and will be sleeping with him at night.

So there's your introduction to Jellycat. As an aside...within the past week or two, Iliya has begun wanting a whole army of stuffed animals to sleep with him. Let's see. We usually have (and don't fall out at the creativity of these names) Jellycat, Doggie, Froggie, Duckie, Blue Blanket, and Horton the Elephant.

Here are a few more pictures of Iliya playing with Jellycat:


Getting sleepy...sucking on that knuckle and snuggling with Jellycat


Iliya told me this was his "Baby Moses Jellycat"


Putting Jellycat to bed

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In other news, I officially got the first persistent, "why?" this afternoon. We've gotten a lot of "what?" and "where?" questions...but the dreaded "why?" seems to be making its way into the rotation.

Edited to respond to Becky's comment: Iliya already wants to be - or thinks he is - part of every conversation we have. In fact, it's common to be in the car...Nathan & I will be carrying on a conversation, and (it never fails, especially if we're talking about something way over his head, after I respond to something Nathan says), Iliya will say, "What? Mama, are you talking to me?"

And as we were driving to church this evening, Iliya had asked me, several times, where we were going and I kept giving him the same answer. He asked it again and I began the answer, when he interrupted me and said, "No, Mama, I not talking to you. I talking to Daddy."



Boy, are we in for it, I do believe!






Written at Sunday, March 15, 2009 by Melissa.
8 comments
8 Comments:
Blogger Nancy said...
I'm amazed at how similar our sons are! That last conversation has been repeated many times with us!

He's as cute as ever!
7:21 AM  
Blogger Joy said...
How sweet is his poor little jellycat.
Joy
7:49 AM  
Blogger Laura S said...
LOL! Love the car conversation. We too have many things that go in the bed at night. About 4 stuffed animals that are mostly decoration and now 4 matchbox type cars (3 from the movie and one that got named for one of the characters when he left the others at school). Hilarious. I keep thinking we are going to have to change to the bigger bed just to accomodate all the stuff!
8:13 AM  
Blogger Becky and Keith said...
Ohhhh... the why stage is SO MUCH FUN (insert sarcasm here!). And the bossy why stage is even better! Wait until you and Nathan have a conversation and you get interrupted with "WHAT are you talking about?" said will full emphasis on the WHAT and rather incredulously! It cracks me up each time. Once they can carry on a conversation they never, ever want to be left out of one. :-)
9:26 AM  
So cute. Now I need to post on something similiar. Dima is going through the same 'lovey stuffed animal' stage. It is so cute to see they are learning nurture from us too.
12:14 PM  
Blogger Carey and Norman said...
Love the jellycat story. Of course, I immediately thought of Smelly Cat from Friends!!
2:29 PM  
Oh yes, WHY and now we have WHY NOT, Mommy? If I hear that another time today I think I'll have to let out a scream! ;o)

It's funny you posted this today because just last night Owen interrupted a conversation Jim and I were having about a friend's child, and he asked what we were talking about and what was the matter. Whoa, we have to be more careful. We knew he was always listening and jumping into conversations, but he's never wanted to know quite so much about what we're talking about!

Oh yes, Jellycat! Owen has a Jellylion, but he doesn't like the texture of his fur and won't even touch him!! They are so soft, we thought he'd love his too! His was also a gift from a friend before he came home! He loves his blankie but not stuffed animals (and may never!). Love the Jellycat.

To see our boys together... so much fun :)
3:00 PM  
Blogger Cindy said...
delurking here! We too name our animals unique things like doggie and blue bear. We do however have an octopus named Polly Esther because the tag said it was made of polyester!

I first saw your blog when you were in Russia on trip 2 and we were waiting on our referral. Love your cute stories and great pics!
12:02 AM  
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