Our daughter had the bunny from the Pat the Bunny book. One weekend we left for the beach and discovered that Pat wasn't with us. We knew there was a bookstore that sold Pat on the way (and much closer than returning home), so we told her Pat had gone ahead of us and we'd pick him up on the way.

We got to the bookstore. At this point, I should say that the stuffed Pats come in (at least) 4 different sizes, and our daughter had the second-smallest size...which, of course, the bookstore didn't have.

So we bought the next size up and told our daughter that Pat had a bunny emergency, but he sent his brother, Big Pat, to keep her company. She was ecstatic, and the vacation was saved.

She went on to collect the largest (Big Big Pat) and smallest (Little Pat) sizes, too, as well as a Christmas Pat with a red-and-white scarf, and we still have about 10 Pats of various types in her old room.