Meet BearTeam

For Easter, Nana and Papa wanted to treat Audrey to her very first Build-A-Bear. Andy and I took her on Thursday night (April 1) and I think we had as much fun as she did. I really wanted this to be HER bear, so I committed to not swaying her choices and to just let her create. Here's the story in pictures (click on them to see larger):

After seeing every animal they had to offer, Audrey chose the pink bear.... the very pink bear.

She was very shy standing in front of the employee while she stuffed Audrey's bear. I know Audrey was so excited inside, but she refused to show any emotion.

The pedal to blow out the stuffing was a little scary until Daddy held her hand.

She chose a gingham red heart.

She did everything the employee asked her to do: rub the heart on your nose, so your bear will always smell good; on your ear, so she'll be a good listener; on your knees so she can run really fast with you (I think... can't remember why).

And then give it a kiss.

Next, it was to to shove the heart inside her stuffed bear.

Once we walked away from the employee, Audrey perked up and started showing her excitement. She's giving her bear a bath.

Now it's time to get dressed. Audrey chose a pink shirt, pink skirt, pink bows, and shoes that were..... you guessed it. We made sure she saw the Disney princess dresses, but she was stuck on the pinkness she already chose.

We sat down to register the bear and give her a name. Audrey told me that the bear needed a family, and I said that we would be her family. When I asked her what she wanted to name the bear, she said, "BearTeam." Here's a little back story: Audrey has been learning about teams and family, and will often say, "We're a good team, Mommy" when we're picking up toys or "Come on my family, let's go outside," etc. We also have a Braxton cheer and a Braxton kiss, and whenever we do this I usually say, "Let's kiss our team captain." She knows that our family is a team, so when she wanted her bear to have a family, she was also thinking about a team. And so was created our newest family/team member: BearTeam. Cute, huh?