"Bear"necessities!

We had the greatest night last week with a little visitor from Kindergarten. In Sam's class this year every student got the chance to be the "star of the week." They got to wear a special crown and sit in a special chair and even got to bring in a show and tell item everyday of the week and a treat one of the days. Sam loved it and made sure to take his crown back every day.
Well, when that was finished and every student had a turn, Baby Bear joined their class. At first Baby Bear just watched the kids in the class and then would choose which table or student was being the best at listening and then he would go and sit with them. After awhile though it was decided that he would like to go home with each Kindergartner but only after each student had written a letter to Mama Bear to ask permission. Sam's letter said, " Mama bear I em gunu tak cir uv bab bear. I wl brnk hm bac. Sam" (Mama bear, I am gonna take care of baby bear. I will bring him back.)
Sam waited with much anticipation and not much patience for his turn. We even had an emotional breakdown one day when he made a wrong choice and was sure if Mrs. Bell ever found out about it that he would never get to bring the furry critter home.
But alas, the day finally arrived and when I picked him up that afternoon I could tell from the joyous look on his face that something big had happened.
He was carrying a cute little diaper bag in one hand and his backpack in the other. Inside that diaper bag was Baby Bear, a note from Mama Bear, a blankie, Baby Bears favorite book, 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' and a disposable camera that we could take 2 pictures with.
Sam had a great conversation with the little guy in the back seat on our way home. "Baby Bear, I can't wait for you to meet Tiger. He's kind of just like you except he is a tiger. His tail is just like yours, cept it is kind of skinnier and kind of longer. He has paws exactly like yours cept yours are so bigger then his. Oh and he has stripes." (Tiger is Sam's favorite baby animal at home.)
That night we took Baby Bear to see Spiderwick Chronicles at the dollar theatre. While Danny and I were busy whispering back and forth about whether we ever should have brought them to something that was so scary and whether we should even stay, Sam was busy covering Baby Bear's eyes and watching with his wide open. (We did decide to stay so they could see the conflict resolution and know that the scary all worked itself out - and then chalked that experience up as another entry for the mother and father of the year award.)
Baby Bear also took a walk to the park with us and then Sam let us know that Baby Bear would really appreciate if he could watch Sam play video games even though Sam still had 4 days of being grounded from them. Sam reminded us several times that we should respect that request because, "after all he is the guest." (Nice try buddy :-)




That night Baby Bear got his own bed in a giant Pampered Chef Box that he shared with all of the stuffed friends that live at our house. I think he got scared and crawled in bed with Sam that night because the next morning we found him cuddled up next to our little guy. Sam said, "Maybe he just got cold."
It was a little sad to pack up the diaper bag and send the two of them off the Kindergarten the next morning, but Sam seemed pretty contented.