Thursday, December 18, 2008

Baby Brother Bear

Meet the newest addition to Grammie's grandkid bear collection:

For now he goes by Baby Brother Bear. I think he's perfect because of his long, gangly legs; he jabs me with his feet and shoulders more than the girls ever did.

My Mom started a tradition with her first grandchild to choose a bear to represent each kid. She's (almost) up to 15 bears (really 14 because Gilian is Buzz Lightyear) and they sit lining her front window. The girls love to go through the bears whenever we're there and try to guess who each one is.

This is Lily's bear (chosen for the candies and little rick-rack ribbon on the arms that remind Grammie that Lily's Mama is the treat queen in the family), Baby Brother Bear, and Amelia bear (pink and sweet). Several of the bears were chosen for a specific reason, beyond being cute and just "feeling" right. Like Aimee bear, my brother David's daughter, is yellow because that's the color of roses David sent to my mom when they found out they finally had a little girl to adopt. Connor bear, my sister Becky's son, is made of Scottish tartan because his middle name is MacGregor. Luke, my brother Don's son, isn't a bear, but a frog, because his Daddy called him "Froggie" from the time he was a little baby.

Lily wanted to be sure and get a picture with Mama bear and Grammie's 2 bears. My bear (left, holding Baby Brother) has been around I think since I was 11 or so. It had a name, but I have long since forgotten it. Grammie's bears were chosen because of the Tartan ribbon (Mom's a Scottish fanatic, in case you didn't know) and the little one because it is an original Steiff bear from Germany where she spent a big chunk of time as an Army wife.

Aren't we a cute bunch?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It has been a lot of fun collecting the bears - sometimes I picked them before the grandbaby arrived and sometimes after. For instance, about Aimee's bear that has a hint of reddish pink around her ears and neck, I did not know until several months after Aimee was born when David and June and Aimee came to visit for Thanksgiving that year, that June had received roses from David that were yellow with the little hint of red in the petals. Funny how things turn out.

Love,
the Grammie

Becky in Wyo said...

The bear tradition is a fine one! I've started one on a lark, but mine was a monkey. More blogging on that later...