If you don’t think he’s cuter than the average bear, you can stuff it

In my room, there’s a teddy bear. I helped my girlfriend make it. Its name is Kid, and it is cute. After we made it, we ate at a neat diner with a jukebox. Then we had milk and cookies. It was yummy.

OK, so I’m not 8 years old anymore. But my girlfriend teaches third grade; she gets to act like a kid all day. Me? I write about rock music. Usually, I’m dealing with a bunch of people who pretend they haven’t hit puberty, even while they’re hitting on anything that moves. I’m the voice of reason.

But at Hollywood & Highland Entertainment Complex, there’s a place that, for an evening, helped me relocate my inner child.

It’s called Build-A-Bear, and it’s where our Kid is from. The make-your-own-stuffed-animal store, one in a chain that seems to have franchised cuteness, is on the second floor of the mall, in a room full of primary colors and clothing too small for a munchkin. Lining the walls are sad, unstuffed animals -- dogs and horses and, of course, bears.

After sorting through the troughs, we opted for a bear with long fur and moved to the stuffing station. We each kissed a side of a stuffed heart and made a wish, then inserted it into the bear’s back before it was filled with cotton and surgically sewn shut. We didn’t share our wishes -- of course, as any child would tell you, then they wouldn’t come true -- but I’d bet they were both decidedly less adult than if they’d been made over a wine toast.

Now we had to figure out what the bear would wear. We tried on a fisherman’s hat, a coat, a princess costume, a T-shirt -- a baseball cap. With earholes.

Yes.

Proud of our new Kid, we took him to dinner. And where better for a Kid’s first meal than Mel’s Drive-In, the Los Angeles answer to Main Street, USA. Vinyl booths, meatloaf and turkey sandwiches awaited us, and as we ate, we thumbed the jukebox. Her song: the appropriately cartoony Archies jingle “Sugar Sugar.”

Then it was back to Hollywood & Highland. She swung Kid in his bag as we sought our just dessert -- chocolate chip cookies. Later, they’d be dipped in milk as we debated visitation rights for Kid.

World leaders, take note: Cookies and milk make for excellent conflict resolution.

We now enjoy joint custody of Kid.

Now if I can just get him to take his hat off in the house.

*

The tab

Teddy bear $20

Where: Build-A-Bear Workshop at the Hollywood & Highland Entertainment Complex, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 461-6105

Dinner $21.35

Where: Mel’s Drive-In, 1650 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. (323) 465-2111

Cookies $2.50

Where: Nestle Toll House Cafe at the Hollywood & Highland Entertainment Complex, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 467-1330

Total $43.85