Got it.

I was just introducing my good friend Jessica to my new bear. (Jessica graduated from here over the summer and is now a postdoc at Stanford. She is back here for a conference for women in probability.)

Anyway, I was telling her about some of the bear's possible names. I mentioned "Nicholas Bourbaki", but she misheard me and thought I had said "Nicholas BEARbaki". I replied that I had not said that, but that I would say that from then on, because that was definitely his name.

In searching for Nicholas's name, I had some interesting discussions with people. Many of them said had teddy bears or other species of stuffed animals, either at the present or in the past. Josh told me that one Easter his parents sent him a basket with a little stuffed animal lamb. He had just been reading poetry by William Blake at the time, so he named the lamb Blake. A good fit.

Caitlin bought herself a teddy bear when she went away to college, because her blanky was too aged and worn to take the trip. Her bear is still with her. I can't remember his name right now.

I remember that when I was little, I had lots of stuffed animals (I still do), and at bedtime I would have to put them all on my bed and get them under the covers, and I would worry that they weren't all covered, or that it would be too stuffy under the covers and they'd have trouble breathing. I was so silly. I don't spoil my current stuffed animal friends like that.