Potsy's Story

Usually we refer to our family as a family of four. The reality is that we are a family of five already (expecting our sixth member when the new baby arrives). Anyone who has a kid with a "special friend" can relate. Potsy is just as important as the rest of us around here. When I came home from Enrichment at the church last night it was almost 10pm and Ben was crying because he had lost his precious Potsy. Brian has become a bit hard nosed about searching for Potsy at bedtime lately, understandably so. It isn't our job to keep track of him. Potsy is not allowed to leave the house, so he's always here somewhere. We've asked Ben to keep him in his bed during the day, but Potsy always needs to either play or watch Ben play, so he travels around the house. Frequently, when Potsy is lost, we find him in strange places where Ben has deliberately hidden him then forgotten him. Potsy has been located in the seat of the toddler push car, wedged in the french doors between the kitchen and dining room (at kid eye level), but most frequently he is found laying on the floor where Ben ran to do something more exciting at the moment. We went through a few months of the same struggles 6 months ago as I recall, loosing our Potsy is always painful for Ben and the parents too.

The first Potsy was actually a baby shower gift when I was pregnant with Ben. The Reeves girls gave him to us and he was so cute. Potsy is a precious moments doll with blue pajamas. His hands are clasped together in prayer and he has a cute little night cap on. He was small and sweet. He sat in Ben's window sill above the changing table in our Houston home and was a cute decoration. We saw him all the time when we were changing diapers. When we moved to Virginia, the room was laid out differently and we put him in the toy bin. Ben had no interest whatsoever in playing with the toy.

One day I had a YW President's Luncheon to attend and had my good friend and neighbor, Debbie Yang, come watch Ben for a few hours. He was about 18 months old at the time. When I returned, the precious moments doll had come to life. Debbie had played with him and teased Ben and made the doll a real animated alive person! Ben quickly fell in love. He began to have to sleep with the doll and it wasn't long before he began to suck on the doll and chew on it. It was a little gross, but not too bad. He chewed off the nose and it was lost after a while when I didn't get it sewn back on.

Brian's parents came to help us move from our apartment into our townhome in the spring of 2006. Craig was playing with Ben and his doll one day while we unpacked at the new place and they were talking about how the doll didn't have a name. Grandpa was teasing Ben and named the doll Potsy. It stuck. Potsy was officially a named member of our growing family.

Potsy was beginning to look pretty tattered and worn. One day we happened through the baby section at Wal-Mart. There was a brand new Potsy doll. It was about twice as big as the original and had a voice box in it that said "A Child's Prayer." Ben fell in love. I was tired of the dirty doll and the washing machine wasn't really cleaning it well anymore, it was just too loved. Ben had been chewing on the face where the nose had been and the fabric was tearing so the stuffing was about to be exposed. I caved and bought Big Potsy. When Brian came home from work that day, Ben ran up holding the new doll and yelled, "Daddy, a BIG Potsy!!!" I'm not sure Brian was initially pleased, but who was he to stomp on Ben's elation. For a while we had Big Potsy and Little Potsy and they were the best of friends. Eventually Ben tired of Little Potsy and no longer needed him to sleep, just Big Potsy.

Over time and many "baths" with the laundry the voice box stopped working. Tears were shed and Ben's little heart was broken. We tried and tried to talk him out of biting Potsy's face. He eventually did...but only because he started sucking on his hands instead. Eventually, Potsy became so stinky even the washing machine couldn't fix him. The next Potsy replacement was purchased at Wal-Mart and I counted my blessings they were still, miracle of miracles, selling the exact same toy! The night of the first replacement, Brian and I were both holding our breathes and were scared about how the swap would work. The old one was just so stinky it made my stomach churn when it got close to my face. It was really, really bad. We explained that we had taken Potsy to the doctor to fix him. The "fixed" Potsy was delivered to Ben. He was elated! No more Potsy stuffing to get stuck in Ben's teeth. It had a nose again. It talked again. Perfect! Then it was bedtime. Things weren't so smooth. We conned Ben into sleeping with the fixed Potsy that night, but the next two nights were rough. He wanted his old Potsy back. He cried and cried. We had thrown the old Potsy to the back most corner of Brian's closet, just in case we had to give it back but we didn't give in. The new Potsy eventually won a place in little Ben's heart. He did not, however, stop sucking or biting him. He got stinky again after 6 months or so and had too many baths so the voice box stopped working again. The same scene was repeated over and over. Now Ben now knows exactly where Potsy comes from. He knows if he bites him, Potsy gets broken because has to take too many baths. Finally, we had made some progress.

For Ben's third birthday I sewed him Potsy Match Pajamas. He was in heaven. They were a match, though it didn't take him long to realize that I hadn't put a yellow patch on the knee or a flap on the bum like the real Potsy. He also needed a sleeping hat. Can't please everyone, but once he gave up on those things, he loved the Potsy Match.

This summer Potsy came with us to Utah and one night we were camping up above Heber City. Our whole family had a small cabin with bunk beds against the walls for everyone. I was babysitting that night, i.e. laying down with all the grandkids while the adults played capture the flag in the dark. Ben was settling in to sleep when Potsy started talking. His batteries were getting weak so he sort of stuttered and stammered over his words. Eventually, Ben started whimpering that "Potsy wouldn't be quiet." He was right. Potsy was stuck "on" and kept talking for over 15 minutes.

I took Potsy outside to fix him. I found Brian and we found a kitchen knife and ripped out his back seam then used the knife as a make shift screwdriver to remove the batteries and the voice box. Finally, silence. I returned Potsy to Ben and he went right to sleep.

For months, Ben has been asking for new batteries for Potsy so he could talk again. Finally we looked at Wal-Mart. The batteries cost $5.65. A brand new, clean Potsy costs $5.95. For $0.30 I can have a brand new Potsy, no washing, no hand stitching the back closed, no extra work. Perfect. I bought Potsy...again.

Eventually, by his fourth birthday, Ben had basically outgrown the pajamas. He couldn't bear to not wear them anymore, so I agreed to put in leg extensions. I added about six inches of fabric hoping it would be enough. Now he's creeping up on five in the spring and the toes of his pajamas have huge holes from all the love and wear. The sleeves are too short and the legs are getting to short again. He asked if I can fix it again and I told him we would have to pass them on to the next kid this time. He was sad. Before he totally outgrew the pajamas we did a photo shoot which he thought was fantastic. He hadn't even known that we kept all the old Potsys. His smile was priceless when he walked into our room and saw SEVEN Potsys laid on the bed.

For the record, he did comment on how stinky two of them were and during his photo shoot would make sure that those two Potsys weren't anywhere close to his face. That sort of made me feel justified in the deceptive lies we had told him over the years about Potsy "going to the doctor." Even Ben couldn't stand the stench.