lambscapearchitect: It's a pillow! It's a pet!

In case you were wondering if marketing to children is effective, look no further than the Pillow Pet.
My 4 year old watches a show on Sprout TV that runs a commercial for these kind of freakish things that are one part pillow and one part animal and the only thing separating the two identities is a 1/2 inch piece of velcro.

Eloise had been begging for one since before Christmas. She pretty much memorized the commercial and would constantly extoll the benefits of the Pillow Pet. I knew it was pretty serious when we saw them in a toy store (or the knock off version of them) and she asked me to check out the "reinforced stitching and hook and loop closure" all while caressing it in a manner befitting a Price is Right model.

She was absolutely sure that she wanted the Unicorn pet. She had chosen it from all the different animals. There was no doubt in her mind. Well, apparently, all the other 4 year olds had chosen that one too because by the time her birthday rolled around they were sold out. Devastation. Instead, for her birthday she got a bike, about 500 other toys, and a swing set but that night she asked about a Pillow Pet again. A frickin' swing set!! Are you kidding me with this??

On her last day of school, as a special treat, I told her we could try to order the Unicorn again (why do I think Unicorn should be capitalized? they're magical, people). She was in luck and the order was placed. I have never seen such excitement. I explained to her that it would take some time to arrive but that I would let her know if I heard ANYTHING about the status of her order. Every morning after that she asked me, "Mom, has it been 7 to 10 business days yet?"

As indifferent as I was about this gimmicky and quite frankly, kind of stupid toy, and as much as I did not want another stuffed animal in this house, I have to say that it really is true love between Eloise and Pilly. Short for Pillow Pet, of course. She sleeps on her every night and yesterday Mike found her reading stories to Pilly early in the morning. They were both sitting on her bean bag together. Move over, Commander Flufferton, there's a new pet in town.