Meet Monkey:

Name: Monkey Rezer
Height: 15 1/2 inches
Weight: approx. 4 oz
Hair Color: orange
Eye Color: black/brown
Notable features: tail
Siblings: twin brothers, Monkey Rezer 2, 3, and 4
(separated at birth, now reunited)

Autobiography (written by adoptive mother – Sarah Rezer):
For any of you who are familiar with the Rezer clan and with the big E in particular than you know of “Monkey.” He has received a LOT of love since E was about, ummm…maybe 5 months old. I don’t remember getting him, although I do know that it came from Jeff’s cousin, Kristen…to whom I am very grateful…I don’t remember ever really giving Monkey to him and I don’t remember him every becoming really attached to it until the deed was done and it became a part of the routine. He would sleep with Monkey at naptime and bedtime and never really carried it around otherwise.

Ethan with Monkey…10 months

Over the last year he has become increasingly important. Monkey is a family member and E has taken to carrying him around everywhere…mainly because while we are living with my mom in a 2 bedroom apt, it’s really easy to go in to his room and find Monkey and pull him out.

After a while Monkey started to look “well-loved” and was in desperate need of a break. This was when Jeff’s mom, being the wise one she is, decided that she should start shopping for the same monkey. We knew it was a Ty toy, but had no idea what his name was or anything. She ended up finding him in a gift shop somewhere and picked him up immediately. Monkey had a twin brother…someone to share the love. Ethan was young enough and the original Monkey was clean enough that E didn’t really pick up on the switch. Since then we have had clean Monkey and dirty Monkey…they trade places as necessary. This was a great system since Ethan’s favorite thing to do was chew/suck on his tail and nose. It was pretty disgusting…seriously.

In the last few months since we moved to Ohio, Monkey has gone from well-loved to white trash. One eye was hanging by a thread, literally, and the other Monkey was close behind with one eye starting to come loose as well. My Mom decided that she would try and make new eyes for the one that was really bad off. Because of the amount of “love” this eye had received she had to make rather large eyes in order to cover the hole…she used two larger pieces of felt and sewed them on…this Monkey is now known as the soul-less monkey as his eyes look completely vacant and empty…the Monkey is now only used for punishment or taunting since Ethan finds him exceptionally scary (poor Monkey).

Soul-less Monkey

Because of said incident we decided to go shopping for new Monkeys so we could continue with the clean Monkey, dirty Monkey system. We found out that Monkey is retired from the Ty company and can only be found through the internet; however, I was able to find him rather quickly and have since received 2 replacement Monkeys. Why only get one when the other one is bound to go sooner or later? Soul-less Monkey will remain in the Rezer household as a memory of what once was and will always have a place in our hearts (except for Ethan’s…he runs and screams at the sight of him…haha). R.I.P soul-less Monkey…we will remember your happier days.

Ethan, being both older and wiser, has caught on to the fact that this is not the same Monkey…he’s prettier and softer and his tail isn’t completely threadbare. But he is taking the change in stride and is warming up to this newcomer well enough.

Ethan with new Monkey…21 months

Monkey, thank you for your years of love and comfort. We salute you.