justin the cat

i'd despaired of ever getting dd attached to a soft toy till recently. my big hope is that she will take to one particular toy and that will make it easier for her to transition to her own bed (instead of co-sleeping). 'justin' is an orange plush toy used by the bean's musikgarten teacher as a prop and helper who is highly sought after by most if not all the babies in class.
in the beginning, the bean would just sit with me or her daddy and watch the other kids try to grab justin from the teacher. then she would crawl over and as she s-l-o-w-l-y reached for justin, another kid would waddle up and grab it. finally, when she started walking, she became much bolder and would sometimes be able to grab justin first and thereby be able to hold onto her much longer.
i am now hunting for a justin clone in stores to see if she will be the bean's magic attachment object.