Here’s a funny coincidence: I drew up a rough draft of this piece early one Saturday morning. Later that morning, Jessica suggested that we take Bash to Build-A-Bear Workshop. She had no idea what I was working on. Must be that collective subconscious at play, eh?
In any case, we took Bash. It was his first time there as well as my first time. I was surprised to find out that one could build things other than bears. In a way, I thought that was false advertising. After all, it’s Build-A-BEAR, not Build-A-Whatever. I anticipated various bears; different sizes, styles, breeds, etc. For instance, I thought a kid could build a brown bear or maybe even a grizzly bear. Instead, the bear selection was scant – the bins of hides were filled with other species and fantastical creatures (e.g., unicorns, cartoon characters, dinosaurs, etc.).
Bash surprised us!
Initially, he had his eyes on a dragon/dinosaur. He’s all boy so this was an obvious choice.
But then he found Princess Poppy from the Trolls movies. Trolls and Trolls World Tour are his up there in his favorites list (we haven’t seen Trolls Band Together yet). I thought it was a strange choice – kinda girly. But he seemed to want her so we just went with it.
Ultimately, he wasn’t building a friend, he was building a GIRLfriend. He dressed her, brushed her hair, then sat her in a chair and started talking on a play cell phone. In essence, he was playing as though he was hanging out with his girlfriend. I think he was mimicking me and Jessica. He even found a car and put Princess Poppy in it and drove her around.
As rambunctious as Bash can be at times, he is very gently with his Princess Poppy. He doesn’t play with her as much as he takes care of her. It’s beautiful to see.
One last note: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how kind and patient the staff at Build-A-Bear was with Bash. They were great! Sure, they tried to upsell everything in sight, but that’s their job. I was impressed!
Here’s a video!
Jason Salas 