Lumpy

This is Lumpy, also affectionately known as "Bumpy" to Éva. You may recognize him as the adorable Heffalump with a sweet English accent on the Disney Channel Show "My Friends Tigger and Pooh," but in our house, he's another member of the family. We don't ever leave home without him, he has a seat at the dinner table, and he has the same bedtime, and bed for that matter, as Éva.

I found Lumpy while I was pregnant with Éva during a shopping excursion with my friend, Kasey, at the Disney Store in Ala Moana Mall in Waikiki. I didn't really know who he was at that point, but he was cute and soft and on sale for $2 so I picked him up.

Éva always had a soft spot for Lumpy, but it wasn't until her stay in the PICU at Kapiolani Medical Center following her heart surgery in April of '07 that she really bonded with him. Paul and I were unable to stay with her over night while she was in the PICU and so I brought Lumpy and her blanket up to the hospital and sprayed them both with the body spray that I always wear so she would have something familiar with her when Mommy and Daddy had to say good-bye every night. Ever since then, Lumpy and Éva have been inseparable.

They are the best of friends. If she accidentally drops him, she immediately picks him up, hugs him and says,"Oh, I'm sorry Bumpy." Anytime one of Éva's favorite songs comes on, she runs to grab Lumpy so they can dance and sing. If she is leaving a room, she'll say "Come on Bumpy" and go pick him up from whatever random place she left him before. And sweet Lumpy is a kind little heffalump. He patiently endures wash after wash in the washing machine, and every little stitch I have to put in him to keep the beads that make him so cuddly inside of him instead of all over my living room. He's so lovingly steadfast through every bout of Éva's little 2 year old temper as he's being slung across the room or thrown down on the floor in a fit of anger! He's not the bright, plush heffalump he once was...now he bears a worn coat and tattered stitching. But he's a loved heffalump, that's for sure!

Recently, however, Lumpy has been misbehaving...apparently. Sometimes, when I put Éva and Lumpy down for their naps, I can hear Éva scolding him harshly. I'm not quite sure what he's doing up there, but it's enough to really make Éva angry. I can hear her from downstairs saying, "No Bumpy! Don't touch! It's mine!" Oh Lumpy...