Meet Mo, Teddy and Little Bear...

The story of the boys and their bears...
When Ethan began daycare at 11 months, they told us to bring a small stuffed toy from home that would make him feel comfortable.  Well... no one explained to us that the animal we chose to bring with him, would be the animal that he would then no longer be able to live without. 
Meet Teddy.

We are not sure where Teddy came from but he has now been through a lot during Ethan's 6 1/2 years of life.  In this picture, you can see that Teddy no longer has a nose or mouth and his eyes are different colors but he has always been there for Ethan.  Teddy has gone missing quite a few times as well but he always (so far) has returned to his home.  One year, we went to the Orangefest for Halloween at the Methodist church and somewhere along the way, teddy dropped and we didn't realize until we left a few hours later.  He was gone.  Ethan was extremely upset and I even shed a few tears (probably envisioning bedtime).  After about a week we started to hear some rumors around daycare that someone had found Teddy and he was waiting for us at the church.  Ryan and I went to the church thinking the worst and after some searching... Teddy was found!!  Again, I shed a few tears and Ryan wouldn't admit it but I thought I saw a small tear in his eye as well.  Somewhere along the way Little Bear has been added to Ethan's collection of must haves. 
Meet Little Bear.

Now that Ethan is going into the 1st grade, he no longer has to carry them everywhere he goes but he still needs them to sleep at night or if he is sad. 

(Now I know what Ryan does on Monday's when we are at school/work.  He did a photo shoot with the bears.  So now the bears can add modeling to their resume along with comforter and friend.)

Best Friends

Aiden's bear is named Mo (aka Monroe).

I was determined that Aiden would not have a stuffed animal that had to tag along with us everywhere we went.  However, when Aiden was one year old he had to go into the hospital for about a week.  During that time, we brought Mo from home to help comfort him.  Of course, now Mo is a permanent fixture in the family.  (so... not only did we add a bear, but look how big Mo is.  Why didn't we look for another small animal??) Mo attends most activities and has been lost numerous times as well and like Teddy, always seems to find his way home.  We thought Mo would be a little easier to replace if necessary since he is a Build a Bear but Aiden did not take well to "New" Mo (original name... don't you think??) and he is now lost in Ethan's colleciton of 200+ stuffed animals.
So... this is the story of our bears.  I am sure that there will be plenty more stories to share in the future!