Feb 4th

My daughter arrived this afternoon with a couple of new friends.

The mama bear was given to me a few years ago by my MIL.  I loved it.

Her acknowledgment of my baby wearing in a positive light was really sweet.

Lu has always loved playing with it.  Little did I know her enjoyment would turn into the uncontrollable beast that is beanie-kid-addiction.  Sigh.

I blame her cousins, naturally.

The 18 year old started her collection at around age seven I think and has about a hundred thousand of the things.  The 14 year old started hers around the same age and has close to the same.  And so it begins.  At four.

Well, it could be worse I guess.  It could be Barbie.  Or goddess forbid - B***tz.

I asked her to introduce them all to me and the first one she proudly thrust in my hand was "Aussie Bear!"  I attempted, fairly successfully I think, to hold back my frown.  A bear constructed with an Australian flag, known as the Aussie bear.

Three cheers for those who can guess what my absolute next move was.

Clue one: www.beaniekids.com

And what was my search criteria?

You guessed it!

And this is who I found!!

For one, I was so pleased he was even in existence.

For two, I was even more pleased that I found him under the search criteria of indigenous, and not my first (cringing as I typed) assumed label, aboriginal.

Yay beanie kids.

So Murri bear will be added to the collection in due time.

And while there is no Maori beanie kid in existence that I know of (the NZ one is green and all about eating kiwifruit ??), I am very grateful to be offering my hybrid child dolls that represent in a small way, two cultures present within one of the countries she hails from.