Meet Leona
Now for most of their life they lived as little Maisie's little stuffy friend. Quite happily, and without much thought about it, they was a SHE...
Enter M's little brother V. He came along when she was eight years old and of course some of her old toys and friends were reused as play things for him
Leona included.
Now Leona was never a super-important stuffy for M. It came later in her life and while she was prominent in her collection, M found it pretty easy to part with her. Comparatively. As an example, she still sleeps with Lammy, her #1 stuffy
It took V a little time to get interested in Leona. They hung around while V went through a few different favorites as he grew up into the two-and-a-half year old we see today.
One day it was Leona's turn. And what a surprise, she was a HE now. It happened overnight while nobody was looking.
In our house we are exploring our culturally ingrained racism and homo and trans phobia on the daily. We have four kids and its important that they grow up into conscious and kind adults free of judgement about people's race or choice of gender so this turn of events in Leona's life provided plenty of learning about difference and acceptance.
For all of us.
Leona is enjoying his new lease on life. Maybe its what he always wanted to be ... Or maybe life will change as our little VeeBoo grows and changes.
Whatever the case we have enjoyed this learning and growth opportunity for our family