Audrey has a new dog.  He may not be real to me and Patrick, but he is very real to her.  His name is Bolt, as in THE Bolt, from the movie.  I had taken Audrey to see Bolt two weeks ago and she was slightly afraid of the beginning and ending of the movie; she actually cried during one part.  However, she has talked about Bolt and Penny ever since.

We picked Bolt up from Toys R Us yesterday in the “Plush” section of the store. When did stuffed animals become “Plush Figures”?   Do our toys need to be p.c. too? I digress.  I wasn’t planning on buying her anything at the store since Christmas is just around the corner, but I did need her to be distracted as I picked up a present for her.  Luckily, she was completely oblivious to the fact that there was a Polar Express train set discreetly covered by my coat in the cart.

Bolt tagged along with us to Target, our last stop of Monday errands.  We hadn’t eaten lunch so we decided to get hot dogs at the food counter.  I have to add, Audrey loves the hot dogs at Target. I have no idea why, but if you ask her where she wants to go for lunch, she’ll answer “Let’s go to Target and get hot dogs.”  So there we are, me, Audrey and Bolt sitting at the table with our hot dogs and grape juice.  Suddenly, Audrey gets up out of her chair and walks back up to the food counter.  “Audrey, what are you doing?” I asked.  “I’m getting Bolt his food” she answered.  I encouraged her to sit back down, but she waited for the employee to come back to the register.  I heard her ask “Can I have some dog food for Bolt please?”  The gal looked utterly confused.  I explained that Audrey was asking for some dog food for Bolt and then picked up the “Plush Figure” and showed her what I was talking about.  “Oh, okay” she said and the proceeded to hand Audrey a paper plate with nothing on it.  Audrey sat back down and placed Bolt on the plate and said “Here you go Bolt, eat up.” 

So now the three of us were enjoying our lunch.  I was trying hard to contain my giggles and was so thankful for the Target employee for playing along with a 3-year old’s imagination.  I know there would be some people who would have just written her off, but she was very sweet about it.  When it was time to clean up our plates, Audrey picked up Bolt’s plate and placed it in the garbage can.  She then came back over and wiped his face and told him he was a good boy for eating all his lunch.  Funny, I think I did the same thing to her.

Since our return from Target, Bolt and Audrey have played house, doctor, school and Candy Land together.  He sat by the tub as she took a bath, curled up next to her as she watched “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, and became the first “Plush Figure” to sleep next to her.  He rode with her on the way to school this morning, and is still sitting in her car seat waiting to go pick her up.  Bolt has blended in nicely with our family, and lucky me, no house-training was necessary.