The people that got us through

One thing that a new child collects are stuffed animals. Have you noticed this? Everyone and their dog sends you a stuffed animal, you buy them, people meet you at the airport with them. I treasure every last one my son has. Every one has some little story behind it. Pickle has Hockey Bear, Curious George, a G-Raff beannie baby from his Auntie G, even a Sleepless in Seattle bear from his Babada that was his first gift upon arriving in America. We took the first item we ever bought for our soon-to-be-child with us to Russia. And yes... it was a stuffed animal. Did he play with it? No.

Pickle doesn't want any of the tons of stuffed animals that he owns. Instead my boy finds Steve. Steve the Cat is a stuffed cat I made out of upholstery fabric samples. He is this funky plaid silky fabric with a corduroy stomach. It is just about the scariest thing you have ever seen. Pickle loves it. He carries Steve around, gives him hugs and kisses, he even waves Steve's arm and says bye-bye. It is just about the funniest thing you have ever seen. I have video of Pickle dancing in the living room with Steve. Forget the Lovey man... my boy has scary Steve the Cat.

In other Pickle news he is learning English by leaps and bounds. His new words are apple, bye-bye, all better, and yes... hockey. He is learning on average 2 new words a day. This morning we were all laying in the bed and Pickle rolls over and points to CS and says "daddy." CS loved that. But for the most part Pickle refers to his father as Mama. We're getting there.