Phie Phie!

I always heard about this giraffe baby toy. Apparently, it squeaked like a dogs chew toy and was non-toxic for your kids to chew on. Reviews I had read claimed it to be the best teething toy. I thought it was all hype. During one  of our many stops at our favorite local baby boutique, our baby spotted it. Hanging on a wall display. In a cute little brown cardboard box. This Sophie the Giraffe teether. Not the original Sophie, but rather one with handles, in the traditional white with brown giraffe spots. He FLIPPED. With hands flapping, the squealing began and we knew at that moment, we weren’t leaving that store without that little brown box.

Our older boys insisted that we needed to immediately go find a replacement. Back to our favorite boutique we went. They were out of the same teether. What? What were we going to do?? Then, the arm flapping and shrieking started up. Had he spotted one? No. Well, not exactly. What he spotted was a Sophie the Giraffe green colored Vanilla teether. I don’t know how he knew it was the same giraffe, but he did. We, once again, were not leaving that store without that giraffe.That Sophie teether went everywhere with us. And then, the unspeakable happened. While out of town for a funeral, we lost the teether. Heaven help us. My guess is that it is somewhere in a Starbucks parking lot. (What? Isn’t that the most logical place for us to have stopped in order to lose something?) Crying began, sad whimpering. I don’t know what it was about that giraffe, but it found a place in our baby’s heart.

I am very happy to say that we have not lost that teether. After the first mishap, I made sure to tether that thing to anything and everything possible. The love… the infatuation.. didn’t stop, though. Each and every time we go to that baby boutique, or any other baby store for that matter, our older kids go on a Sophie hunt. Once she is located, the baby’s arms start flapping and squeals begin. He doesn’t talk, you see. Talking or not, though, he makes it very clear how much he loves that giraffe.

As I said in the last blog post, we helped at an event this past weekend. Right across from the booth we were working in he spotted her. “PHIE PHIE!!!!” he shrieked. He called for her for the first 15-20 minutes we were there. I didn’t want to lose his “Phie Phie” so I left her in the car. I should have brought her. I almost had to go buy him another one.We eventually ended up with the large, squeaks-like-a-dogs-chew-toy Sophie. He snuggles it. He smiles when he sees it. He actually started referring to it in as much of a word as he can. “Phie Phie.” He spots “Phie Phie’s” from anywhere. We cannot leave without seeing all the “Phie Phies.”

Tell me, do you have any Sophie products? How do you or your kids like them? If you don’t, which Sophie do you wish you had?My piece of advice to you: If you have a baby or are expecting a baby, get a Sophie. Any Sophie. I don’t know a baby yet that has one and doesn’t love it. I have a feeling we will be adding more of the Sophie products to our household, as well as perhaps Sophie’s friends, the Chan Pie Gnon.

Note: These products were not provided to me. We bought them, our children love them, so I am showing them to you in the hope that you will love them too.