Pandas Get a Bath

Panda bears are one of Kimmie's loves. She has quite a collection of panda books, movies and stuffed animals. Her stuffed animal pandas range in size from a giant plush to the Ty beany baby size. The ones she plays with the most are the little ones. She has seven or eight of these little ones. I think there are four identical Ty ones, a couple other Ty versions, and then a couple other brands.

She often takes these little ones out and about with her and they were starting to get quite grubby. I told her they needed a bath. Brown Bear needed one, too. His fur was quite matted.

So, the other day I threw them all in the washing machine with some towels. Brown Bear survived the washer and dryer. That's always our first concern. I was sitting with Kimmie when Dad pulled that load from the dryer. He brought the little pandas in and gave them to Kimmie still warm from the dryer.

Kimmie very carefully picks up each panda bear and sniffs it. She held them by their front paws and sniffed each one's tummy. One by one she did this until she'd smelled each one three times, just like a momma bear sniffing its babies.

Then she started examining their faces. She held each one around the neck and looked and looked at their faces. The way she holds them around the neck it looks like their heads might pop right off. Before the bath she could tell them apart by the dirt marks, and she always picked the dirtiest one to play with. Now she had to figure out which one each was by some tiny difference. It's amazing how she can usually tell them apart, just like she can tell identical shoe strings apart that came out of the same package just ten minutes ago!

She's so funny! I sat there watching her and laughed. The sniffing I'd never seen her do before and it was too funny!

--Mom