Many of you may be familiar with our “time out boy.” He’s a stuffed doll, white and without a face, that is dressed in toddler boy clothing. He stands about 3 feet tall and, up until recently, could be found standing, wearing a backwards hat, in a corner of our living room. Until recently his only real purpose has been to shock guests or throw them off guard.

Since not long after Bridget could walk she’s had an interest in the time out boy. Typically he was drug around the living room a bit, hugged, or kissed – but eventually he always managed to make it back to his corner with his backwards hat.

Not anymore.

Not quite a week ago Bridget was dragging him up the stairs, and the following conversation ensued.

Bridget: He’s my friend. Wants to play my room.
Tina: What is your friends’ name?
Bridget: He’s just my friend.
Tina: I know he is your friend, but what is his name?
Bridget: He’s just my friend.
Tina: You know Josh? He’s your friend. And Gordon? He’s your friend. And Emmy. Those guys are all your friends, and they have names. The time out boy is your friend too. What is his name?
Bridget: Um. (thinks for awhile)
Bridget: His name’s Sean.
Tina: His name is what?
Bridget: His name is Sean.
Tina: His name is Sean?
Bridget: Yea. Its just Sean.
Tina: Ok, well you and Sean have fun playing in your room.

And she continued dragging poor Sean up to her bedroom.

After several minutes of hearing things like “Here you go Sean,” or “You look so cute” coming from her room, I grabbed my camera and headed upstairs to investigate.

This is what I found.

Later that day. . .
(Notice, Sean no longer has his shoes on. Bridget figured that if she should have to take her shoes off in the house, so should Sean)

Sean now has to sleep on the floor beside her bed (and be covered with a blanket) whenever she takes naps or goes to bed. He does get neglected in the wake of real life playmates, but otherwise he is a great friend.

One thing is for sure, with Sean around we hear a lot less about Fuf-uff. At least Sean is tangible. It should be interesting to see how long this lasts.