Why We Need Another Child*

M has a moose which she likes.  It's a very nice moose, with colored rings for her to grab, crinkly legs and hooves and scarf, and exceptionally chewable purple antlers (absolutely the last word in chewable antlers, believe me).

I have this feeling that it may be on its way to becoming her security moose.  Security as in security blanket, not as in security team.  First off, I don't think that M needs a security team (high-profile though she is) and second, even if she did, I would be unlikely to employ a mass-produced stuffed and chewable moose as a part of it.

Unless he happened to know karate.

At any rate, she is of him very fond, and can frequently be found trying chew him to bits (it is thus, I have decided, that she expresses love).  Notice how she's sizing up his leg for her next assault, calmly investigating where her as-yet nubby teeth will have the most effect.**

And although she likes her moose, I think she also regards him as definitively her property, and so is often merely calmly proprietary when they are together.

Sometimes, her efforts at nonchalance are in vain, and her real and honest excitement at the moose's presence show through.

Honestly, who could doubt this as a genuine portrait of a girl who loves her chewable moose?

*Really, it's just so said second child can say "My sister once bit a moose."  If you don't get it, watch this.

**She may also be reflecting on her leggy advantage over the moose, since his (hocks?  Do moose have hocks?  Are hocks even what I'm thinking of?) leggy regions are less developed than hers.  You may notice a bit of smugness lurking in her expression.