The Panda Family

The Panda family.  That's what Jeff calls it.  He got his first stuffed panda when he was 2 (almost 3) at the Memphis Zoo.  We had traveled to Memphis with Noni for work.  While she was at a meeting I took the kids to the Memphis Zoo.  It was a rainy dreary day in late March.  We were just about the only people there.  We spent a long time watching their pandas and the polar bear (Erin brought home Cranberry the stuffed Polar Bear).  Visiting that zoo is one of my favorite memories from when the kids were younger.  Having the place to ourselves allowed us to spend as much time sitting in front of an exhibit as we wanted.    

Jeff at 2 riding home from Memphis with Panda.  Also that's blankie in his lap.  It is not nearly that color yellow any more.  

Over the years Jeff has added to the "panda family".  A couple of Beanie Babies, a large panda from King's Dominion, a panda Webkinz and a panda beanie ball.  All of them sleep with Jeff every night (along with around 15 other stuffed friends).  He very carefully arranges them in bed and tucks them in.  Momma panda is the original panda.  This week at the National Zoo we spent more time watching the pandas.  We arrived nice and early, and the daddy panda was right up front eating some bamboo and then wandered the enclosure. We spent a long time taking pictures and watching Mr. Panda enjoy his morning snack.

Since it was spring break I explained to the kids that they could each pick one stuffed animal from the gift shop.  Jeff immediately ran to the pandas.  He handled them all, picking out the softest and snuggliest one.  At a reasonable price, it wasn't too hard for him to convince me.  He then kicked in to overdrive and grabbed a big eyed baby panda fussing that baby couldn't be left alone, separated from mommy.  Yeah I'm a sucker.  He got both.

When we got home and I was removing the tags I noticed that the tag of his new panda looked familiar.  The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that this is exactly the SAME panda I bought Jeff almost 6 years ago in Memphis.  When we returned to C'ville he ran upstairs to get the rest of the family to introduce the new members.  Yep...this is virtually the exact same bear.  Same size, same weight.  Cleaner and fluffier but same one.

So we've added an auntie and cousin to the panda family.  I'm not sure how many more will fit in bed with the big boy.  But glad he still gets so much excitement from lovable, squishable stuffed animals.