When during my first pregnancy I found out I was expecting a boy, one of my first thoughts was, “But I don’t know anything about dinosaurs!” Oh, Ghost of Swistle Past and her inappropriate gender assumptions! Little did I know that nine years later I would only JUST NOW be learning about dinosaurs, and it would be because of my GIRL child.

We have bought her several small plastic dinosaurs, the softer plastic kind that don’t hurt as much when you step on them in the dark. But what I wanted was something more snuggly than that, more of a lovey she could have in her crib. I found the Cuddlekins Triceratops, and it’s exactly what I wanted: it’s soft, almost floppy in its snuggliness, but also a recognizable triceratops—not, like, a BARNEY character. The picture shows it in a sitting position, but it’s not sewn that way—it just can’t stand on its mighty triceratops feet.

I chose the triceratops because that’s her favorite, but it’s also available in other dinosaurs such as diplodocus, stegosaurus, t-rex, and pteranodon. In fact, I went ahead and bought a stegosaurus while writing this post, in case you guys get ALL EXCITED and clear them out. —Swistle

Link: Cuddlekins Triceratops on Amazon.com
Ballpark price: $13