My friend, Giraffe

When Jude was a baby, we got him a toy giraffe (see below). Although his likeness to real giraffes is arguable, Giraffe quickly became Jude's favorite toy. One of his first words was "Giraffe". We went to a concert that had a 2 year minimum age requirement once. The security at the door said that Jude didn't look like he was two....then Jude said, "Giraffe". I asked the man, "How many kids under two do you know that can say Giraffe?" He let us in. (Jude turned two a couple weeks later - they let 9 month old Annie in too after she used "haematencephalon" correctly in a sentence.)

One night, Giraffe accidentally was left at Nana and Grandpa's house. Jude didn't sleep a wink that night. Around 2am, Jessica told me that she was just going to make the 1 1/2 hour trip to get Giraffe so that we could all get some sleep. The next day, Giraffe had a identical twin brother shipped in from New York.

It didn't take Jude long to figure out that there were two Giraffes, although our intent was to keep the other as an emergency backup. In an effort to keep the wear and tear on them similar (and to see that Giraffe got a bath occasionally (he goes everywhere that Jude does), we switched them from time to time. Jude caught on and spent a few months sleeping with two Giraffes.

Well, despite the difference between stuffed, flat Giraffe at home and the real ones at the zoo, Jude recognized them right away and was immediately enthralled. Maybe next time stuffed Giraffe gets lost, we can ship in a real one from the zoo to keep him company at night.