For the Love of Penguins

Friends celebrated its 25th anniversary last summer and there was huge hype over a reunion. They made a special Central Perk Lego set to commemorate this milestone and had an orange couch tour across the world. No, I didn't go visit the orange couch, but yes, I did buy the Lego set.

It really wasn't a bad price for genuine Legos with that many pieces.

The Friends anniversary didn't mean much to me because I'm not the biggest fan out there, but all the hype and video clips being circulated online made me curious to look up some facts about each of the six main actors in real life. A couple facts I learned:

1. Lisa Kudrow is the only actor to be married and stay married to the same person.
2. Lisa Kudrow was actually pregnant when her character was pregnant.
3. Courteney Cox was pregnant in the end of the last season but it was not written into the script.
4. They served really good food on set.

Coincidentally, I've proved an aspect of Friends to be accurate to real life, which most of the show is not in all honesty. 

In season 9, Joey's beloved penguin, Hugsy, makes his appearance again when Emma finds him and enjoys playing with him. Joey becomes jealous and wants his penguin back. He buys a second Hugsy in an attempt to give the newer penguin to Emma and take his original one back. Emma doesn't want the new Hugsy and Joey is left disappointedly taking the new Hugsy.

Hugsy

If you've watched the show or just simply read the quick synopsis, you might have wondered, can children really tell the difference between two identical stuffed animals?

The answer is yes. I've proved it. 

After my brother got married, he returned from his honeymoon and gifted me a stuffed penguin. It was a very cute stuffed penguin and he has received lots of love from me over the last 6 years. 

Meet Chilly Willy!

After my daughter was born, and even when we were preparing for kids and her arrival, I knew there were special stuffed animals I didn't want my children to mess with because they were special to me and I wanted them to last as long as they possibly could. If you know children and stuffed animals, there's a lot of abuse to be had: drool, food residue, puke, dirt, and overall abusive love. It's just simply how they play with them. I did not want Chilly Willy to experience any of this, so he stayed out of reach on our bed or hidden under the blankets.

Well...babies grow up and become mobile and get smart, and before you knew it she could climb onto our bed and locate Chilly Willy. So I did the best thing I could. I went online, located an identical version of my penguin, and bought it.

She was pretty excited when we got Chilly Billy...but I think I was more excited.

She definitely likes her penguin and holds onto him tightly. But you know what? If she ever catches a glimpse of Chilly Willy, she wants him. Put the two side by side? Chilly Billy is left behind every time.

I'm not sure why this is, but they know. Oh, they know.