Brown Bear in a Bag

For a very long time Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? was Z-cakes' FAVORITE book. We actually had to hide it from her if we wanted to be able to look at any other book. I think the bold pictures and simple words were what she loved about it. It was the first book she actually started asking for (i.e. bow beh), it was the basis for her animal sound repertoire, and I would not be surprised if it is how she learns her colors. That is why we were so excited when N8tr0n's mom (GrammaG) made her this wonderful gift which I refer to as: Brown Bear in a Bag.

I was shopping with GrammaG at Esthers Fabrics (gah! I wish I was there now!) on Bainbridge Island, WA when she spotted Eric Carle fabric with all of the Brown Bear animals. We talked about how cool it was but weren't inspired enough to buy it at the time. Later, GrammaG came up with the brilliant idea of making softies out of all of the anaimals! We went back to the store the very next day (kicking and screaming as you can imagine). I knew these were going to be a big hit with Z-cakes, but I was definitely not prepared for the awesomeness we had coming our way.

Every character from the book is represented in softie form and each one has coordinating fabric on the back. All of the fabric has a different and interesting texture making these excellent sensory toys as well!

Here's the part I like best...all of the fabric that GrammaG used is from her stash! FROM HER STASH YOU GUYS. That means that the only thing she had to purchase was the character fabric. That also means that GrammaG has Brown Bear hair in her stash! (or at least she used to).

And since all moms like to put things away...and most kids like to take things out...GrammaG made this handy little bag for all of the animals to go in. In case you don't know the book ("you should get to know it" says Z-cakes) the kids on this fabric are the kids at the end of the book.

As a speech therapist mom, I could make a crazy long list of all of the wonderful therapy I could be doing with a toy like this. Fortunately for Z-cakes, I just let her do her thing. Which usually involves taking all of the animals out, making their sounds, and then throwing them across the room. (That's what she kept trying to do while I was taking these pictures anyway. You may notice in the picture above that her eyes have glazed over from the warm glow of the TV that I turned on to distract her).

She also likes to pick two of her favorites and give them piggy-back rides while I chase her around with the camera.

This toy is slated to be one that is well-loved and well-worn. I hope it is one that we will have around for a long time (if we can keep Z-cakes from throwing them all in the toilet again...). Thanks so much GrammaG!