It is not uncommon for toddlers to keep a comfort item with them that they carry everywhere they go. For most, it’s a special blanket, stuffed animal, or something similar. For two-year-old Theo Brady of Salt Lake County, UT, that comfort item is a creepy, five-foot tall skeleton.

The bizarre friendship began in September when Theo’s mom, Abigail Brady, went down to the basement of their home to put their dog in his kennel before leaving for the park, with little Theo following behind. Noticing water in the basement, she briefly ran back upstairs to grab some supplies to clean up.

That’s when she heard Theo calling out for her: “Mom, mom, help, help, help.”

When she came back downstairs, she found Theo tugging on the skeleton and trying to carry him up the stairs. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh that is so funny.’ So I brought it upstairs,” Abigail shared with TODAY. “(I thought) I’ll just start decorating for Halloween early.”

But Theo had bigger plans for “Benny” the skeleton. He decided Benny was his new best friend and needed to go to the park with him that day.

“He refused to get in the car, just flat-out refused. So I was like, ‘I’ll bring it in the car, it’s not that big, it’s not that big of a deal,’” Mom Abigail said.

But Theo wasn’t content to leave Benny in the car, and refused to get out of the vehicle unless Abigail brought his new best friend to the playground too.

“I was like, ‘This is going to be fun. We’ll just bring the skeleton with us and it’ll be a party,’” Brady said. “Ever since then, the skeleton’s been coming everywhere with us.”

While Benny’s constant presence creeps his parents out a little bit, Theo couldn’t be happier to have his buddy around all the time. Abigail started posting pictures to Instagram and TikTok of Theo’s budding friendship with Benny, and the internet has gotten quite a kick out of the duo.

“It’s funny to see him put food in Benny’s mouth and it just drops down through his ribs,” Brady said. “Theo thinks it’s so funny.”

Everyone who sees the pair out in public together are so amused by the unique yet odd friendship.

Abigail said Theo doesn’t continue to insist on taking Benny everywhere, with one exception: the skeleton absolutely must sit in the chair in Theo’s room every  night while the boy sleeps.

Mom tried removing the skeleton one evening because it’s nightly presence in her son’s room unnerved  her, but Theo woke up and called out for his friend. “He was like, ‘Skeleton! Skeleton!’ So I put the skeleton back in his room and he just sits on his rocking chair while Theo sleeps,” she explained. “(Theo) loves to give Benny knuckles and high fives and he pokes him in the ribs. It’s cute.”

We wish Theo and Benny a happy New Year, and many more years of friendship!