Dr. Mommy, Stuffed Animal Fixer

Today I was asked to transform into one of the most important roles of my life—Dr. Mommy, Stuffed Animal Fixer. My 6-year old son requested my “mommy doctor skills” to help two of his giraffe stuffies who each had holes at the seams. His loves! It isn’t often I get to play stuffed animal doctor to such incredibly important patients as his beloved giraffes. My heart welled up and I stepped forward in my best super-hero stance and I answered his call–yes my sweet child I will take your baby giraffes into my healing hands and make them whole again! But first…we must prep them for surgery! That’s what it looked like and sounded  like inside my head, my hair and cape were flowing and everything.

To my son, I tried to play it cool, but my excitement escaped me, “Yes! Lemme get some blankets for while they’re in pre-op!” While I threaded my needle, my son consoled his larger giraffe (under blanket). It was close to his bedtime and I mentioned both of his giraffe stuffies would be like new in the morning. He   told me that he wasn’t sure if he could stand the night without baby giraffe, so I decided surgery was not to be postponed, we must operate now. And I did.

While my son watched Ninjago, I happily hand-sewed my way into one of my favorite mommy places. I don’t know what it is, but ever since I wanted to be a mom, this particular “mommy hat” (as we know mommies have MANY hats), was the one I would dream about most. Maybe because my stuffed animals meant so very much to me when I was a child (I still have my favorite 5 that my son plays with now). I thought my mom was amazing when she “operated” on my stuffies, because to me, it meant she must also see them as real, just as I did.

A bigger injury, this one will probably leave a scar…

Now, with my own little one who is extremely attached to his personal menagerie of stuffies, here I am, the one who gets to fix them. As stuffed-animal-doctor-mommy, I am blessed with a wee gesture to show my son how much I believe in him and love him and anything that is important to him, from his precious stuffies to his biggest dreams. What is his reality is my reality in how I need to be there for him.

I imagine there are countless Dr. Mommies and Daddies out there dedicated to this imaginary play. As parents it’s a proud moment when we unwittingly release our creative best as we immerse ourselves into the wonder, trust, and magical realities of our child’s world.

I’d love to hear how you’ve shared in these moments with the children in your life. What are your Dr. Mommy (or otherwise) memories?

All patched up and ready for hugs.

16 Aug This entry was published on August 16, 2012 at 9:20 AM. It’s filed under Other and tagged creative play, our children, parent and child, parenting, stuffed animals. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.