Bits 'n Pieces: This Lil Piggy

Chow-chow

Suzy is getting bigger and taller each year making her favorite stuffed animal, Piglet, looked tiny when put next to her . It is almost as old as her and they used to be of the same size. My ex husband, her step-dada then, gave it to her when she was only 7 months old. And it got stuck, it became her lovey, her security blanket. She named it "Chow-chow".

Now at 5, she still doesn't sleep without it, still sucks her thumb when she holds it. If I won't insist on it being washed, she doesn't care if its dingy and smelly already. As a matter of fact, it develops a signature scent which is a mix of sweat, saliva and whatnot if left unwashed for quite sometime. It must smell like heaven to her as she always has a smile on her face everytime she cuddles this thing. But for us, my sisters, her cousin and I, everytime we try to smell it out of curiosity, dang, the unpleasant smell lingers to our noses overnight.

From a bright pink-colored stuffed toy, it turned into sort of grayish-pink. It's not as fluffy and cuddly as before. It looks so tattered and over-used, which makes me wonder if I will just secretly hide it from her and just declare that it's missing. But no, I can't really do that. We even bought her several other piglets (so that she will have spare ones if the inevitable thing happens) but she rejected them all. She loves this old, dirty lil piggy to bits, showing that uncondional love still exists and that, though it's one-sided, her love to this "loyal" friend of hers will never fade.

I have fixed it countless times. Everytime, the threads become bare and the hands and ears become slightly detached, she would immediately run to me,as if there's an emergency, and demand if I could sew it back as quickly as possible. Afterwhich , she would be so relieved and happy like a mother who's child just had a succesful operation. Yes, she treats Chow as her baby. Even talking to it sometimes, well maybe most of the times, I can't really tell as I just caught her doing that a couple of times.

I know it seems like not a good thing that she has created a world with this non-living thing but I noticed that everytime she is having a tough time, say, a fight with the cousin, she would find Chow and it seems to soothe her right away. In a few minutes later, she becomes calm and back to her normal cheerful self. It seems to provide her comfort and solace. So whatever makes my lil girl happy, I go with it. And anyways, I know that eventually and gradually, she will lose her dependence on Chow and break the habit all on her own. So for now, it doesn't really bother me that she cherished this lil piggy so much. I just hope this thing won't get lost or else, well, that's gonna be another story.