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It never really occurred to me before kids, and truly not until they were around for a while, that there are things that kids aren’t born with.  Like knowing how to blow your nose, jump, or even having an imagination.  Ethan has had two stuffed animals close to his side for a long time now, ever since I stopped worrying about SIDS enough to allow him to have them in his crib.  We started with just a small leopard, inexplicably named Boo, but I made the mistake of throwing him through the washer one day and not getting him dry in time for nap time, necessitating the introduction of a stuffed husky dog, more obviously named Puppy.  Ethan still carries both of them around all the time, but Puppy has the more favored status and can be found with Ethan almost all day.  I have managed to convince him that Puppy needs to stay home when we go out (except for Bible study, which was the original reason for giving him a comfort object in the first place) so that he doesn’t get lost.  One of my great fears is that we will somehow somewhere lose Puppy and cause a major breakdown.  Anyway, back to my original point.  Ethan has started developing his imagination more lately, causing me to realize that he hadn’t had one prior to this.  He’s started using things in ways that weren’t their original purpose and using various animals to act out scenarios around him.  It gives you new eyes for yourself when your child calls a dinosaur momma, but I digress again.  Since he so often has Puppy with him, Puppy gets a lot of his imagination and a lot of his conversations.  This morning when Ryan got him out of bed, he said something about Puppy being a dog, to which Ethan promptly replied, “Puppy is not a dog, he’s a person.”  Well, duh.  It was really sweet and explains a lot about how he acts around Puppy.  He was giving Puppy rides around the family room just a little while ago, I have a feeling Puppy will be a part of our lives for a long while to come.  It will be a sad day indeed when he’s no longer required.