To tag Pooh, or not to tag Pooh?

So my Little Star has a Winnie the Pooh that we first bought for her before she was a year old...actually she picked him out at the Disney Store.  Since then he has been her best friend, he is her companion, and her need.  There has only been one night spent without Pooh, and that was because she was sick and threw up upon him and I had to take him to Grandma to wash at 10pm.  It was the WORST night we have ever had, I even gave her Tylenol to help her feel better but she was still up and completely distraut!  She can't sleep without him and when he isn't with her she is just not quite herself.

Ever since she was a baby she would turn stuffed toys over to make sure they had a butt-tag and then she would stroke and feel the butt-tag.  Some were found to be satisfactory, like Pooh's, and others were found to be lacking that special something (whatever it may be) and were then discarded, usually by means of chucking them out of her crib. 

Pooh's butt-tag is now non-existent, about a year ago there were nothing but strings left where the butt-tag used to be.  Now she strokes a special place on his butt, it must feel different to her, I can't feel it but what do I know?!  She even wanted Baby Bear to feel it when he was only 3 or 4 months old.

I have recently been faced with a "Pooh Dilemma"...my village was discussing this the other day, and we decided that Pooh is the perfect candidate for a butt-tag transplant.  Our dilemma is where to harvest the butt-tag from...I bought her a Pooh identical to the one she has and he was found to be not just unsatisfactory, but offensive!  I am left wondering if the butt-tag is acceptable where the Pooh is not.  Yet if we decide on a butt-tag transplant, will Pooh's butt reject the new tag?  Is there anti-rejection meds for that?  Not to mention the trauma of having to cut Pooh's butt open in order to insert the new tag.  We have already discarded the idea of cutting him open to add stuffing, given his limp condition, as we feel that type of trauma inflicted at such a young age would result in at least one year of therapy.  I believe the butt-tag transplant could be done within the 2 hour window of opportunity when she is at preschool, but would her world be turned upside down to come home to a new butt-tag on Pooh's butt?  I would ask her what she wants, but in order to even wash him I have to do it when she is at preschool.  Normally her default decision when it comes to Pooh is "Leave him alone, he is my Pooh!".  I would even consider surprising her for Christmas, but I would hate for a "Pooh trauma" to be associated with Christmas.

I am pretty sure that Pooh will accompany her to college as well as occasionally sneak his way into her backpack to find out what school is all about.  She has already been giving Baby Bear the rules about how to play with Pooh...for example "you don't bite Pooh!" as he goes to taste him.  She will let him sleep with Pooh during the day when he is upset, as Pooh is the ultimate comfort.

So there it is, my first real parental dilemma that has kept me up at night on occasion...all the other decisions may have been difficult, but have at least been made, this I have been agonizing over for a year now.  My mother's advice is simple:  "Leave it be, when she wants him fixed then she will ask.".  Which leads to a whole other dilemma...what if he falls apart before she asks and we can't repair him?  My mother-in-law's advice is just to throw him away as he is just so pitiful looking...completely unhelpful as I will not inflict that trauma upon her EVER!!  So here I am left to my own devices to decide this...may be I should pray about it...I wonder if God answers prayers about Pooh Bears?!  May be I should contact Disney and find out about how long (feasibly) a Pooh Bear should last, then may be my decision will be easier.  Then again they may just say something like "You're crazy lady, here's a coupon for a new one if you spend $50 or more.".  Oh well, onto another day of pushing off making this decision...everyone raise your glasses or water bottles...Here's to the challenges of parenting!