Her entourage.

These are her people. Every night when it is time to go to bed she will wander around the house and make sure that she has found all of them before she heads to sleep. Sometimes a random stuffed animal will be allowed in for a night with the three regulars, sometimes....when they decide its okay. I'm pretty sure Ariel must be the ring leader or at least thinks she is....power trip :). Obviously since Emma makes her known as the clear favorite and always places her in her arms at night and right by her in the morning. She get in her crib and as I hand each of them to her she places them in their respective "sleeping places" and then blows me and kiss, waves at me and tells me goodnight. We have had many a family search at bedtime for Ariel with Emma protesting sleep until she is found. Oh brother. Then in the morning when I go in to get her up. She stands up and smiles, "morning" she tells me and then picks Ariel up by the hair of course and swings her over the edge of the crib for me to grab and then reaches back down to get puppy and penguin. Then she takes all three to the couch and lines them up next to her while she watches Sesame Street or Curious George. Oh yes and the blankets come too. She is not particular to a certain blanket but they are always pulled out as well and dragged to the couch for morning lounging. All my kids love stuffed animals, Hunter has Rusty, Avery has Moo and Hippo and then Emma with Ariel, puppy and penguin. This morning she was having a banana and watching Curious George. It made me laugh when Ariel fell forward and Emma, not taking her eyes off the TV and still eating her banana reached with her free hand and sat Ariel back up. Some mornings she will respace the three of them as if they are complaining of crowding. Lay for a little while and then readjust them again. Sometimes for whatever reason she will stop watching and lean over and give one of them a kiss. Silly kid. I have to admit it makes me smile because it reminds me of Kimbre. When she was little she would take every stuffed animal she owned and at night she would lay them all around her in bed like an outline and almost panick if when she woke up one of them had fallen on the ground in the night. She was always worried about one of them feeling left out. It was really sweet. I guess Miss E you are just like aunt Kimbre in that cute little way. I love it, makes my morning.