Meet Tao

So Carter's lovey is a mini pillow pet Elephant. My MIL sent it for Valentine's Day and it hasn't left his sight since. Well, to be honest...it is not ALWAYS with him...but pretty close. Thankfully it is light gray and is not an obnoxious color or anything! Logan had his pacifier - but it was just for bedtime/naptime. I will get there with Carter, but right now, it travels with him to keep our sanity. :)

The elephant's name is Tao (sounds like cow with a 't'). Everybody kept asking if he had a name and we always just said 'no...just Elephant'. It is a lot of pressure to think of a name for a stuffed animal that is always with him - I'd rather him come up with the name....but he's a little toddler.... So lately we've noticed that he tries to say elephant....he uses the last letter and tries to go backwards sounding something like 'Tao'. So....that is his name. Traditional? Not so much...but it is what he calls him and we like it. :) If he is being whiny, all we have to do is say 'Where's Tao?'...and Carter immediately leaves us and goes on a search (even if it means going upstairs) to get his lovey.

Anyway, because it is always with him...this poor thing gets a beating! It gets dropped, washed, stolen by the dog, washed, sneezed on, washed....you see a pattern. It 'used' to have a tail. At the fitness daycare I go to, the tail fell off. In that place now was a hole....where stuffing randomly fell out. My Mom came over a week or so later and stuffed it like crazy and sewed it up. Well somewhere in the next week, the hole came undone...perhaps it was because it was stuffed so much - it was hilarious watching Carter try to walk around holding his animal. So I took some stuffing out...then some more...then some more....and while visiting John's Mom, she sewed it back up.

Then a few weeks ago, a hole entered near the ear - more stuffing came out. My house at times may look messy just from random stuffing falling out or from tissues that my ridonculous dog has ripped to shreds (thanks Buddy)...which by the way, I think we know who is causing holes in the elephant. He just is a dog that LOVES stuffed animals. I had lost my needle and thread and recently found it....sewed that sucker back up! I also searched through all my buttons and sewed on a new eye (because oh yeah - that fell off at one point too).

Fast forward just 2 short days later. Carter was dying to go outside with Buddy while I made dinner...I had no problem...except that he wanted to bring Tao. Against my better judgement, I finally gave in so I could do dinner without a screaming toddler either banging on the door to get outside, or banging on the door to get inside to get Tao. About 10 minutes later, I see Carter is no longer holding Tao....crap! I bolted outside and thankfully Buddy is getting much better at leaving the scene of the crime when I come running out like a crazy momma! There went not only the new eye, but the old eye as well. And the one hole was now much bigger. So back to the sewing kit I went. I patched up the hole and we decided to leave Tao without any 'eyes'.

So yes, we have a blind elephant without a tail, named Tao on our hands...but we love him.



Tao is pure magic - just ask anybody who has witnessed it. If Carter is cranky or whiny (kinda the same thing) - all you have to do is give him Tao and he immediately is quiet. There is no interim period of quiet whining...just. pure. silence. It is quite remarkable. Tao in his left hand, right thumb goes right into his mouth.



Isn't it funny how this post was going to be a quick story about these next couple sentences...but due to my lack of blogging the last few months, I had to introduce the main character...and I write how I talk...and well...I am a talker with lots of detail!!


Because of random stuffing falling out of Tao despite no hole (that I know of...), I will find Carter walking around with a small piece of stuffing in his left ear. Only ever his left ear - it is so funny!! Here is a picture of him just yesterday...with the stuffing in his left ear. What a goofball!