The Maggot

All of our family and most good friends have met Maggot.  It is by far George's favorite thing in the entire world.  The Maggot may even top Mom and Dad.  This Maggot joined our family on Christmas Day 2009 compliments of Aunt Christina and Uncle Sayed.  It was a very thoughtful gift...two soft organic stuffed toys called Monsieur Tse-Tse...one for each of the twins.  In true little brother fashion, John had to make fun of his sister saying, "So you got our kids Maggots?"  You see the tsetse fly starts off as a maggot and this little stuffed toy sure looked like a Maggot.  Here is a look at Monsier Tse-Tse from the website where he is sold. Reminiscent of a Maggot, right?

Maggot lived in our stuffed animal basket until George was about 6 months old.  The school of thought is that this is the "safe" age to give the infant a "lovey" of some sort in the crib at night.  Many friends were adamant it helped their kiddos drift back to sleep on their own if they woke up in the middle of the night.  More sleep? I'm in!  So I dug through our stuffed animal basket looking for something that was soft without little buttons or eyes he could choke on and came upon Maggot.  Soft, no little pieces, and a bonus...made from organic materials...bingo!  So Maggot ended up in George's crib that night.  Clara ended up with a soft pink dolly.

 Here is Maggot in the early days in the back left corner of the crib with a sleeping George.

George was smitten!  Every time George went to sleep we would hand him his new friend and say, "Here is your Maggot."  He would smile so big, reach for Maggot, and settle down in his crib.  Fast forward 15 months and George still loves Maggot.  He chews his antennae, walks around with Maggot hanging from his mouth, and cuddles him every single nap time and bed time.  Maggot is loved, loved, loved!

 Here George is sleeping in a rather unusual position with Maggot under him.

You can see Maggot peeking out from under his belly by his hand.

I have no problem with George having a lovey.  In fact, it is kind of sweet.  My only regret...why didn't we call him Fred?  We sure get some strange looks from people who are over and haven't met Maggot when we turn to Georgey and say, "Find Maggot.  It's time for bed!"  Maybe I can start calling him Fred now....

 George today when I went to get him after nap. He is saying, "Here's Maggot!"

A very very loved Maggot.