Guest Dad Joe Burris writes about the Pillow Pet this Father's Day Friday:

Usually, kids watch a television commercial promoting a toy, food or clothing accessory, and soon after they’re left with a must-have-it frame of mind, a euphoria that builds each time they see the ad.

For my 4-year-old daughter Onalenna, it’s just the opposite.

A while back she received as a gift one of the latest must-have-it items for kids: a Pillow Pet.

Pillow Pets are stuffed, animals-shaped pillows that fold into a toy. The TV ad boasts gleefully, “It’s a pillow! It’s a pet!”

Pillow Pets come in various animals and insects. My daughter has a bright red ladybug.

And at times, I can’t tell whether she’s more delighted with the Pillow Pet or its TV ad.

I don’t believe Onalenna ever saw the ad before receiving the gift. But now whenever she sees it, she is – to coin a phrase from the Old South – like a hog in slop.

“Daddy! The Pillow Pet! I’ve got one!”

Then she dashes into her room, grabs it off the bed and runs back to the TV, showing off her Pillow Pet.

“Look, Daddy!” she exclaims, looking at the kids on the ad. “Mine’s is just like theirs!”

Which, of course, delights me when the commercial warns not to be fooled by cheap imitations.

The ad displays the various Pillow Pets, and when Onalenna spots the lady bug, she points at the TV and shouts, “Daddy, I’ve got that one!”

Onalenna uses her Pillow Pet almost exclusively as a pillow, yet I’m not so sure about how well it works in that capacity. She’s a toss and turner, and often when I go in at night to check on her, the Pillow Pet is anywhere but underneath her head.

Still she’s become quite attached to it. One day when she took it to school, a boy in her class brought his as well, and the two delighted, each boasting the joys of their own stuffed treasure.

I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for the two of them to watch the commercial together.