As mentioned in the post about his third birthday party, Philip received a very large teddy bear as one of his gifts. Since its delivery, it has approached it with trepidation. If Peter or I were to touch it, Philip would shy away from the bear and even hide behind us.
The bear has been sitting around the house in different locations. At first, we parked it in the rocking chair. Later in the week, we moved it to a chair at the dining room table. After I bumped into it one day, the bear slumped over with its forehead on the table as if hung over.
On Sunday, we gathered all of Philip’s toys in the den. Peter and I decided that, with the addition of several new toys as birthday gifts, it was time to sort through everything. We recycled those objects that we had given Philip to play with that weren’t really toys like empty butter dishes, paper towel rolls and juice bottles. Then, we grouped together the component pieces of toys that had gone their separate ways over the last few months. We selected some toys that Philip is quite ready for to be stored in the attic. We picked out the toys that he seems to have outgrown. We took everything that was left and divided them among the three plastic storage tubs that we purchased just for this purpose. Two went into the closet and the other was left downstairs in the den.
At this time, we decided to move the giant teddy bear up to Philip’s room. He has touched it a few times since then, but still cautiously. Tonight, however, he took his time feeling the soft fur and squeezing the bear. I moved the toy down from his cabinet onto the floor. Once it was there, Philip continued to investigate the bear and finally was brave enough to climb on top of it.
Next, I moved the bear onto our bed. Philip climbed up there with the bear, peered in its mouth, felt its soft fur, examined its paws and gave it a hug.
that cynking feeling 
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