Todd the Cheetah -- Guest Post by J

Aiden regularly sleeps with three animals: Todd the Cheetah, Marchie Bear, and Friend Bear. Other animals and baby dolls rotate in and out, but these three animals are regulars.

Todd is really a leopard, but Aiden decided upon receiving Todd that he would prefer him to a cheetah. And so he is.

Todd is named after the fox from Disney's The Fox and the Hound. At the time we received Todd, year and a half ago, we were reading a book adaptation of that film almost every day.

When putting Aiden to sleep, he sometimes has me face Todd a certain direction, such as toward one of the windows or the door. This is the direct Aiden expects monsters to enter from that night. According to Aiden, Todd's favorite food is monsters, and he eats any monsters that enter Aiden's room while Aiden's sleeping. Todd is lightning fast and can eat any monster, even "spiky ones" that would normally hurt one's mouth. I asked Aiden tonight how many monsters Todd eats per day. Aiden said Todd averages 10 per night, for a total of about 65,000 so far.

Aiden invented this role for Todd long ago, and he doesn't insist on position Todd in any direction anymore. (Aiden also assures me that monsters are just pretend and that he's just having fun.)