Enter Mr. Frog.
I can remember a few instances in my life where I've seen frantic mothers searching for their child's (insert item here). It never dawned on me what the big deal was, and why everyone seemed so frantic. They'd ask and I'd tell them "Haven't seen it." Not once did I offer to help.
When Bug was born he couldn't suck. We went to physical therapy at the Children's Hospital in Seattle (that was a humbling experience in itself, and another story.) We worked on his muscles and his "suck" but he really had a hard time. He also really wanted to suck. ALL THE TIME. I'll leave the details out, but no one was happy. Before Bug I said "no pacifiers." Anyone who wants to judge me for giving it to him....well, I'll leave those details out too.
Enter Mr. Frog.
Long story short. Bug loves frog. We love Frog.
We lost Frog!
Sunday we went to Fred Meyer to pick up some groceries. Usually I watch frog like a hawk because he's not tethered to anything and losing him scares me (I like sleep.) Bug LOVES shopping. He sits in the cart now, and I'm pretty sure I could spend 3 hours walking around, and he would be totally happy. He usually keeps his little clutches on Frog at all times. At some point between the Artichokes and the Tomatoes we noticed that Frog was missing.
It was the same time that Bug started to get upset. We assumed that Frog was tucked into the cart somewhere. I looked...my husband looked...no Frog. Bug looked at me with his big brown eyes, with tears in them. My heart broke into a million pieces.
Damn you FROG!!
I asked the stock boy if he happened to see a small frog anywhere. He gave me the same look that I've give panic stricken moms in the past. The "what's the big deal" look.
My heart broke even more.
He didn't care.
He didn't get it.
He wouldn't get it until he had a baby of his own.
I didn't get it until I had Bug.
He mumbled something the customer service desk and that was it.
I ran around the vegetable displays again, without knocking over old woman.
I ran to the customer service desk. I looked behind the desk myself because the line was so long. I'm sure that violated some sort of rules, but at that point I didn't care. I left before getting yelled at by the store manager.
I ran back to an upset baby and my hubby. He hadn't magically found it. I took off again. After running around the store again, and giving the stare down to every single baby (because you know, other babies might have somehow taken it) I saw another person stocking fruit. I'm sure he thought I was nuts, but I ran up to him and in one breath said, "have.you.seen.a.frog.pacifier?" To my surprise he said, "Yes! It's on the bread display."
Tears of joy! I could have kissed the man.
Of course I didn't hand Frog over to Bug, but tucked him into the bottom of the diaper bag to be thoroughly cleaned later. Bug smiled and like the Grinch my heart grew three times that day. I know that down the road I will continue to do ridiculous things for Bug. Things that he will not appreciate until he's a daddy himself. Here's hoping that I don't get arrested doing it.
Note: A friend of mine told me that if your baby loves something, buy two. Switch them out each week and that way if you lose one you still have a back up. Great advice. I need to follow it!
Yay for frog!!
ReplyDeleteHeartbreaking yet hilarious story. And I love that you had to get a photo of frog on the bread display. I also really like how you pointed out that no one will understand some things until they themselves get to that point - SO TRUE. I'm definitely going to be more attune to parents looking for items like this in the future.
ReplyDeleteOH YES you need a backup - and a backup to the backup! :-) Ask me how I know....
ReplyDeleteBoth of my children had things to which they were extremely, extremely attached. My son and I were just commenting on this very fact the other day, when I was looking for stuffed cats for my Halloween costume and stumbled across the (his pronunciation) "Nigh-Nigh Moo Bunny." This treasured anthromorphic rabbit permanently clad in striped PJs went everywhere with us for a long time. I kept an eagle eye on his constantly, and embroidered our phone number on his tag. The only time he went missing was in a department store, and I had half the staff out searching before he was located on, believe it or not, a stuffed animal shelf. My toddler had been drawn like a magnet to inspect other "stuffies" and set him down.
My daughter's objects were consecutively, a stuffed "Spot the Dog" from the animated series and a St. Bernard Beanie Baby creatively named Bernie. Spot got dropped once in Kmart but was found quickly (he also had an embroidered phone no.). What happened to Bernie is the reason I recommend plural items... We visited friends for the weekend (a guy who worked for my husband and his wife), and when we got home, no Bernie. Friends reported he was nowhere to be found at their house.
Hysteria ensued. Daughter cried, I cried, Brother cried, Husband cried. I knew exactly how attached she was because I hasten to tell you, MY childhood stuffed animals are in my bedroom right now (they get it honest). I immediately set out to locate a new Bernie. Easier said than done, as this was the height of the Beanie Baby craze and it was tricky to find specific ones. After calling several stores, fortunately I found one that had Bernie and this time I bought TWO. Didn't want to go through that again! Daughter was "okay" with the replacement but complained that he didn't have the same "look" on his face. :_(
A week later, my husband comes home from work, reaches into his briefcase and pulls out... you guessed it, Original Bernie. He'd been found on the bottom of a sleeping bag my daughter used and the couple finally rolled up to put away. Naturally I burst into tears of joy and screamed for daughter. More tears from the rest of the family. Oh, drama!
My daughter used that same kind of pacifier, but I think they had just been invented when she was born (20 years ago). Thank God they had been because they were the ONLY kind that worked on my screaming mess of a colicky infant. Literal lifesavers for me. They only came in one color - gummy brown, very ugly, but we didn't care. The fact that they're attaching them to cute frogs now is a SUPER idea!
P.S. Daughter (20) and Son (18) both still sleep with the treasured "special" stuffed animals, both Springer Spaniel dogs (we have a real one) that succeeded the above-mentioned infant/toddler versions. Every night. :-)
ReplyDeleteAll's well that ends well right? Great story that while funny now, I can see how it would be a crisis of epic proportions at the time. And yes, procure yourself a second frog. ;)
ReplyDelete