My idiot dog, paco

So my parents and sister and her husband went on a cruise 2 weeks ago. My mom called me every few days, which was probably expensive. She wasn't calling to check on me; however, she just missed Annabelle. When they got back they came over for the wisdom teeth removal and they brought Annabelle all of the cruise presents that they got her.

One of these presents was a stuffed dog. A build-a-bear style animal, except it wasn't pink and wearing a cheerleading costume. It is a hound dog. It wears blue jams and a surfer style shirt. It has black sunglasses. It barks and if you press its heart it says "Hello Annabelle my name is Paco, I like to bark and eat kibble. Your grandma loves you very very mu..." It is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Annabelle loves it. It is the only stuffed animal that she is attached to. She calls for it: "Pa-co, Pa-co," and wants it in her crib.

The name Paco comes from my mom's favorite dog from my childhood. Paco was a cocker spaniel whose main interests lied on other people's shins. He also like to chase a toy apple around our porch and would do so for hours. He had absolutely no redeeming qualites except for his bad sense of direction. One day he got out of the yard (my dad has never been cleared of creating the loose fence board, which remains a source of marital discord) and never came back. Anyway, my mom claims to have never gotten over the loss.

She taught Annabelle to say Paco. Initailly she was saying Pa-o. But the Spanish teacher in my mother couldn't have that. "No, Annabelle, it's Pa-co"

Today when we were leaving the house I told her to say good bye to the dog (the real one). She waved her hand and said "Bye-Bye Pa-co." She called Bella Pa-co a few times today. I guess that's Bella's name now since that's what Annabelle thinks it is. Of course, if we played by that logic, Annabelle's name would be Hertzog, since that's what she thinks her name is.