Storytime

Every night the girls and I read stories in their bed before lights out. Sometimes Keithen joins us. Of course Magic Bunny is always with us too. Lately, we've had another friend in bed with us for many of our stories - my constant childhood companion Mrs. Beasley. Ruby really seems to like her. It's been sweet for me to watch her growing attachment to the doll that I loved so much when I was little.

Mrs. Beasley came to live with me the Christmas I turned 2 years old. (You can see the scan of me unwrapping her on Christmas morning, 1972.) You'll see that, 4 years later in 1976, she was under the tree with me on Christmas morning to help me unwrap my presents. (And wearing the same dress that she has on now.)

Today, it's easy to see that Mrs. Beasley was just as well-loved as Kaylee's Magic Bunny. I have no idea where her glasses are now. I do still have her collar and apron. Her hair seems to have worn away in a few spots. She's been recovered in a different fabric than the original blue-and-white polka dots. I can remember her trip to my mom's version of the "doll hospital" to be recovered and my own shock when she came back into my arms not looking exactly as she had when I gave her over to be repaired. My mom made her the red and white dress she's wearing in our picture above. I'm pretty sure that I also had a matching dress, although I can't seem to find a picture of it.

I remember Mrs. Beasley being so real for me. Like the Velveteen Rabbit, I loved her so much that she just had to be real. We had conversations and played together. She listened to me talk when I was upset over something. She was truely my best childhood friend.

I see that same love in Kaylee and Magic Bunny. I've promised her that we'll always have Magic Bunny, even when she's all grown up with children of her own. (And I'll admit to having "Cottonball Beanie Baby" on my Ebay watch list just in case anything tragic ever happens to Magic Bunny!)

Keithen has a couple of stuffed animals that he really likes (Dollar Bear and Peyton Bear) but he's never really had the intense attachment to them that Kaylee has to Magic Bunny. Ruby hasn't latched on to a constant companion yet, but I think she might one day. What about your children? Do they have a special toy that they love so intensely? Did you have a special childhood friend of your own?