Lucky works on his baby preparedness

Lucky dog has been really good with all the new baby items with the shower- he has carefully inspected each one from top to bottom (sniff, sniff, stare, sniff) and all have passed his in-depth inspection.

Last night I was doing a clothing inventory to determine what, if anything I should purchase (turns out I need nothing for at least 3 months) and generally going through all the baby stuff. Lucky was carefully sniffing and monitoring the piles of clothing and gear, as is his usual technique. Then Matt got home from school and Lucky ran off to welcome him, at which point (by pure coincidence) I unpacked a small brown stuffed bear with an INCREDIBLY obnoxious laughing device embedded in its stuffing. Ugh! I do not want to have to listen to the evil bear laughter coming from my child's hands. Super creepy.

Not to mention, my sister has told me that you shouldn't bother with toys that cannot be machine washed because they'll get nasty. Makes perfect sense to me. So the bear had two strikes, because it was not machine washable.

When Lucky got back upstairs, he assessed the new clothing piles and then spotted the bear. The bear, unlike all the other items, looks vaguely dog toyish. Proud to have figured out the puzzle of what I've been up to for the last hour (clearly, I've been searching for a toy for him!) he gingerly threaded through the maze of baby stuff, tenderly lifted up "his" bear by the arm, and brought it to his bed. From there, he thrilled himself over, and over, and over, and over, by lightly chewing on the bear and making it laugh. Oh joy! A new toy! Matt and I had to laugh at him, which made it that much better (attention!) and he has been carrying his bear around non-stop ever since. I wouldn't let him sleep with it for fear the sound would give me creepy nightmares, but after he ate his breakfast he got his bear back and was thrilled.

I figure it has about one more day before he performs what, in the dog toy industry (seriously!), is known as a squeakerectomy.

It is the perfect solution. Dog gets new toy. Laughing bear will soon be robbed of evil laughing abilities. And baby will never need to know.

OH- and incidentally, the bear came as a free gift with another purchase, so I'm pretty darn sure the gift giver will not be upset that it is now a dog toy!