Bad Advice

Many of you are familiar with Paprika, Genevieve's trusty sidekick decked out in a pink bunny suit. Most experts agree that your child having a lovey, an inanimate object that they love, love, love, is a good thing. I have yet to find any research on what to do when that same lovey starts giving your child bad advice. Lately I've been hearing things like, "Paprika says this food isn't good for me and I shouldn't eat it." "Paprika said that I can watch three videos." "Paprika says that you should drive through red lights." The last one happened this morning and surprised me a little. Paprika had always seemed like such a nice stuffed bear and now she was telling Genevieve bad and dangerous things. What next? Paprika says we should start doing animal sacrifices in the backyard? What do you do when your child's bear becomes a bad influence? I tried to gently explain to Genevieve that Paprika may not know what she is talking about. She took great offense at this. "I didn't say it; Paprika did! And she does know what she is talking about!" So now I'm not sure who's crazy: Genevieve for listening to the voices coming from her stuffed animals or me for arguing with her about it.

In other news, Sophie got a very nice chair for her birthday. She and Genevieve are pretty good at taking turns in it and sharing it, although some times Sophie does crawl over the back while Genevieve is in it and forcefully claims her territory.