As the Toddler World Turns

I've been trying to figure out how the social caste is arranged in the world of my daughter's stuffed animals. Several months ago -- right about the same time she began sleeping on a pillow -- we began allowing her to bring two soft toys with her to bed. Initially, each night would produce a different arrangement, with the polar bear and giraffe earning her favor one night, the black bear and donkey the next, and so on. Eventually, she settled on her favorite baby doll (known rather unglamorously as "Big Baby") and "Beefeater Bear," a brown bear dressed -- absurdly enough -- as one of the soldiers who protect the Tower of London.

I like Beefeater Bear, and not simply because he makes me think of gin . Still, I had no way to explain why she prefers him to all the other, perfectly acceptable stuffed bears in her menagerie. But there's no accounting for preference in toddlers or anyone else, so I gave up trying.

Yesterday, however -- with the swiftness of a palace coup -- Big Baby and Beefeater Bear were suddenly not welcome in her chamber. They had been swapped out for "Orange Fishie" -- a fist-sized rubber goldfish -- and her oversized Nemo doll. I don't know if the Bear and the Baby had conspired against her in some way, or if she suddenly decided to convert to an all-piscine posse. But it's the damnedest thing. It's like they were never friends in the first place. Three days ago, she would have had a mild stroke if her two pals weren't with her at bedtime. Now they just sit in the same place all day long as she wanders the house with her toy fish, taunting her erstwhile buddies with a vision of the life they used to enjoy.

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As the Toddler World Turns

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