The Adventures of Rocky

I came upstairs to find Charlie like this the other day, so I just had to get the camera. For those of you who don't know about Rocky (the dog he's sucking on).... here's his story. Rocky was given to Charlie twice when he was born. Mimi (my mom) bought him one, and so did Anna & Jack (Charlie's California cousins). Rocky is a Blah Blah stuffed animal (http://www.blablakids.com/) and we were introduced to these animals when we moved out to California. All the kiddos, Anna, Jack, and JD had one, so when Dylan and Charlie were born, they received one also. Rocky's real name, according to the website, is Licorice, but we thought it might take awhile for Charlie to say that. So, we decided to call him Rocky and keep the tradition going. * Rocky is what we called Charlie while he was in my belly. So, this love filled relationship began very early on with Charlie and Rocky.

At first Rocky just kept Charlie company in bed when he slept. Later on though, we realized that Charlie somehow started sucking on the paws of Rocky for comfort. We didn't think much of it to begin with, expect that Rocky went everywhere with us... no matter the time of day. Flash forward to 2 years later. We have been through 3 Rockys. For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting Rocky, you know that he is a little... well... for lack of a better word... stinky. Ok, Uncle Mark, he's REALLY stinky. Rocky is pretty much a disgusting stuffed animal dog that no one wants to touch or smell, but he is Charlie's BEST friend.

We are on our last Rocky. Charlie only gets him now when he sleeps... he's not allowed to leave his bed. Breaking him of the habit of taking him everywhere was definitely a process, but we did it. We tried cutting off the paw to get him to stop sucking on it, but he just started on the other paw. A couple nights ago, we heard Charlie crying about 30 minutes after we put him to bed. When we went up to check on him, he had pulled ALL of the stuffing out of Rocky's arm (there was a hole already in the arm). So, Rocky has two knots tied at the armpits to keep the rest of the stuffing from coming out, one arm is a paw-less hanging mess of strings, and the other arm is limp arm with a dangling, chewed up paw on it. So, needless to say, Rocky is coming into his final days. I am half tempted to leave him home when we head down to my parent's place on Sunday and try to kick him of the habit. I still have a couple days to decide.

It's been a great adventure with Rocky, and it saddens me to know that I cannot keep him in Charlie's life. I really wish I could get him to just snuggle Rocky instead of suck on him, but I don't know if that will happen. So, there's the story of Rocky. I will get a before and after picture of him to give you an idea of how "used" he is.