I’m not sure who’s more attached to this stuffed animal: the owner or the owner’s parents. Two years ago when we nearly lost Froggy, Lindsay and I were way more panicked than Silas. He sat and watched — slack-jawed — as his mom and dad tore his home apart like paranoid coke dealers searching for DEA bugs.
We were frantic, not only because of how Silas might react if Froggy went missing, but also because we love that goddamn frog. His aunt got it for him the day he was born and he hasn’t slept a night without it. For the first two years of his life, he clutched it in his armpit like a small purse. I have video of him crying while watching it go around in the washing machine after he puked on it.
There was one rule with Froggy: Never take him out of the house. It was too risky. We thought maybe Silas accidentally brought him along on a stroller ride with our babysitter, and dropped him in a puddle on the corner of 16th st. and 6th avenue. He denied it, and we believed him.
We searched everywhere, including the freezer four times. We looked in our winter boots, the storage unit, the oven. I even looked down my pants. Nothing. It wasn’t long until Lindsay and I felt as if we’d been drugged.
It was time for Silas to go to bed for the first time in his adorably short life without Froggy. Months prior, Lindsay had been smart enough to buy a back-up which we named Frogette, but she didn’t quite look or smell right. She hadn’t been broken in.
Silas got over it quickly and fell asleep clutching Froggy’s clean, fluffy, pampered — and I’m embarrassed to say this about a stuffed animal – annoying twin sister. Her pristine appearance only reminded us of how much Froggy not only looked like he lived beneath an interstate highway overpass, but also how much he was missed.
With Silas in bed, Lindsay and I were still on a mission to find the cloth frog, and thereby reinstate our sense of sanity. We failed, and went to bed.
The next morning Lindsay put up signs around the neighborhood as if we’d lost a cat or an engagement ring, or our bluegrass band was playing at the local Irish Pub. No one called and none of the local stores had seen him.
Two days later, after we’d given up on ever finding the stuffed frog, Lindsay and I had some downtime while Silas was out with his babysitter. We were sitting on the couch, probably watching something like Six Feet Under, but talking about Froggy throughout. I sighed because part of Silas’ youth was gone, and Claire was mixed up with a strange crowd from art school. I slumped down as a physical manifestation of my depression.
Then I saw it: a tiny patch of green fur on top of the cable box. I took a deep breath, and focused my eyes. It could have been a random piece of felt, or even a carpet sample. But there was no mistaking the matted texture and pale green color.
He was right there all that time, but only visible from a slovenly depressed couch dwelling position. It was my destiny to find him. I always knew in my heart that, someday, my terrible posture would provide me with an opportunity to be a hero.
We pulled him out carefully, like baby Jessica from the well. We both smelled him and hugged him and then felt a little embarrassed. Lindsay wept.
When Silas got home, he was excited that we’d found Froggy, but it wasn’t the drop-to-your-knees-I-just-won-a-new-car reaction we were looking for. He knew he hadn’t taken him out of the house, and maybe even remembered stuffing him behind the cable box. Regardless, he knew it was only a matter of time before we found him.
Jesus kid, don’t do that to your mom and dad ever again.
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I feel your pain, we have ‘Manky Panda’ from Ikea, who my son Benji has had since he was 3 months old, (The bear in question was originally only sold at Christmas times in the store! I did not know this) I needed a spare by the time he was about 9 months old (3 months before Christmas again) as he was VERY attached to it and I could not find one for love nor money…
Until I hit eBay, and someone in Australia had one, so I bought him up quick-sharp and paid for tracked delivery and all sorts – I felt uber smug.
Of course we then visited Ikea a couple of months later to find those huge crates in the kids’ sections FILLED WITH BLOODY PANDAS.
….I bought another 2.
This post is just hilarious, and so true. My oldest son originally had a bunny that was given to him that he became attached to. Unfortunately, I had no idea where it was bought and never found a spare. He dutifully took that bunny to bed every night with him for 2+ years, until he lost it at a hotel (well, he *said* he had it!) The first few nights were tough, especially since we didn’t have any other bunny to substitute. But then he found a stuffed dog that he really liked to take his place. And when his little brother was born and was given a stuffed bunny, he claimed it as his own
My youngest has a stuffed dog that was again given to him, so no substitute (why do I do these things to myself??). I swear if ever he lost that dog he would never get over it. He will not sleep at night until “puppy” is in bed with him, and he insists on bringing him on all car rides. Fortunately we’ve convinced him not to bring him outside of the car. He also enjoys putting him in baskets and calling him his “baby”.
My daughter had Rosie, who did indeed have a twin in the closet just in case (and there were plenty of cases…) but what struck the most familiar note with me was that my son had a little horse, Trotter, who he would take by the head and slam him up into his armpit with the head and front legs hanging out the front and the back legs and tail out the back. It was just the way he would whip him up in there with a little “matter of fact” nod of the head that was the best.
Our daughter had Ducky. She picked him out around her first birthday and loved that thing like nothing else. She also had a Bunny, but Ducky was #1. So, when she lost it at her babysitters’ friends house, I was inconsolable. Our daughter was sad, but moved onto Bunny, while I tore the house apart on the off chance it was there somewhere. When we moved, I thought maybe we would find him, but alas no. Now it’s been about two years since Ducky’s disappearance and it still makes ME sad.
I feel your pain and your relief!
Our 2 year old is the same with his Cars. But just to keep us on our toes he will ocassionally switch it up and want a different one to the one he has and it is always the one that has disappeared behind the couch or into the laundry basket or somewhere equally as frustrating. There has been many a night that I am up at 3am tearing the house apart for McMissile or MacQueen cause he can’t possible go back to sleep until he has it in his hand. There was a moment of panic when we were on holidays a couple of months ago and McMissile went flying off our 12th storey balcony. Amazingly he survived to spend the night in little mans hand
My daughter had a stuffed monkey that she became attached to around the age of two, and would not part with it for about 8-9 months. I don’t even know where it came from, and could possibly have been the dog’s toy at some point… But she had become quite obsessed with ‘monkey’, and one night I had picked her up from the sitter’s and we were driving home, she at some point threw monkey out the window. She told me about it sometime later on our drive home and was inconsolable. I was, of course, like why in the hell would you throw monkey out the window!? You love monkey! But she was two..and she was like I just did! So, she cried all of that night and the next couple of days, but then seemed to forget about monkey for the most part. A few days later I was driving, it was pouring rain and I saw something by the side of the road.. and I knew it was monkey.. I pulled over and ran across the street and got monkey out of a muddy, littered puddle. I was so excited, I thought, ‘I have found monkey and I will be her hero forever!.’ I took monkey home, so happy with myself that I had saved monkey’s life…When got home and said to Olivia, “Look what Mommy found!!! She found Monkey!!!” She looked at the muddy wet monkey that I was holding in total disgust and was like what is THAT… as did my husband…. and so we threw monkey in the trash and monkey was never mentioned again.
As a toddler, I adopted one of my mom’s new, silky nightgowns. As I sucked my finger when I held it, it became known as “Sucky.”. Had it for years until my mom decided I was too old to suck my finger and decided replacing it with a stuffed animal would do the job. I received my wild puffalump, known as “Puffy,” for my 7th birthday. Creative in the name department, eh? Maybe I shouldn’t share that my mom performed surgery on him in all of his pink glory so he could survive college, and when I came home during the gory part of the procedure to find his head detached from his body I literally hyperventilated. Puffy still sits at the head of my bed. I also found a reincarnation of Sucky that has a place next to him. My brother will be 39 next month and still has his Henrietta Pussycat, a la Mr. Rogers. She’s definitely seen better days….especially since she only has one eye anymore.
“or our bluegrass band was playing at the local Irish Pub.” This line made me laugh out loud.
I hated when Claire was dating that guy from art school. That guy just LOOKS greasy. Even though he was really good in The Messenger, I still couldn’t stand him because I hated his Six Feet Under character so much. I get a little too involved with my tv shows.
Tha guy was creepy on 90210 as well.
“I always knew in my heart that, someday, my terrible posture would provide me with an opportunity to be a hero.” LOVE IT.
It’s so true, we get way more attached to the stuffies than they do, what with our abstract ability to understand the symbolism of disappearing babyhood and such. I’m really glad you found Froggy.
My middle son lost “Peach-a” his yellow lab dog in the Minneapolis airport. My husband rivaled OJ jumping over people and luggage to get back to the store to get the blasted dog before our flight pulled away from the gate! He is 12 now, and I still find that dog in his bed sometimes!
Luckily, my son (18 months) chose a cloth diaper as his lovey. It’s perfect because I have a gazillion! My mom’s told me horror stories of loosing “Po” (my favorite doll) and rejecting one of the multiple back-ups because she was yellow (Po was pink). They eventually cut me loose of Po at age 6 when I’d lost it and no one found it until a week later. I got it as a gift for my 16th birthday and I have to admit, I couldn’t remember ever being attached to Po.
Same here, my 2 year old’s loveys are those cheap 8×8″ wash clothes you can buy in the baby section of Target, $2.99 for a pack of 6. He has about eight thousand of them and doesn’t care which ones are in his possession at any given time. I think we dodged a bullet there…
My son had a lion stuffed animal that we always tucked in his stroller because he didn’t like being in the stroller. He loved it and named him Cracker (one of the few words he could say). One day we lost Cracker while out for the day so I wasn’t even sure which store we lost him in. The place I originally got it didn’t have anymore. So, we substituted another animal, but it was never the same. Four months later (four months!) I was in a store and the clerk came up to me with Cracker saying that she found it in the store, recognized it was my son’s and since she knew we were frequent shoppers there she saved it until she saw us again. We live in a very small town…
We lost our daughter’s stuffed dog (Lady, from the movie) when she was four. She had slept with her for years and took her everywhere with her. We searched and searched, and she mourned–even six months later she would occasionally think about the dog and cry. We didn’t realize right away what had happened, until we saw her one-year-old brother throw a different toy in the garbage. It’s the only answer we could come up with (or else Lady will turn up when we move)!
It’s like Buzzy Bee in “Best in Show.” Christopher Guest needs to make a mockumentary about parenting based on your life.
Ha! I kept The Spare in rotation so they’d be equally worn out. They could still tell a difference but I always claimed it was from the laundry. Of course now we have two of each lovey and I’m not sure when to come out and just give them the duplicate. And fess up. (They’re 8 & 10)
Haha!
We have THREE ‘Henrys”. It started as one blue lovey type blankie thing with a dog head, then I ran out and bought a second (in case of your above situation) only this “Henry” has a moneky head not a dog. Then as a gift my son received another blue lovey with a football head. So now instead of “henry” they are now “HenryS” and he likes to have all 3 at all times – I thought having them all in roation would make them equally worn in…he doesn’t freak if we can only find 2 at bedtime or if one is in the wash… BUT I DO!!! I only let one Henrys leave the house per day. I am so attached to them I don’t know what I would do if we lost ant of the our 3 Henrys….
I had a raggedy black toy cat that used to go everywhere with me. When I was three I had a belly button operation and the hospital made it a wrist band that said ‘Pussy Grice’. hehe. A few years later she was “given to a lovely family with a little girl who looked after her and loved her”. I think I was about 24 when I was explaining to someone whatever happened to Pussy Grice and I thought.. ‘hang on a minute’. Mum confirmed the ugly truth that yes..she had been lost.
By the way, thanks for the Six Feet Under recommendation in your finale blog. Nursing a newborn (ie sitting down for 40 minutes every 3 hours) is a perfect excuse to catch up on DVD TV shows I’ve missed from the last ten years & I’d been looking for a new one. How did I not watch it at the time?? The characters are so amazing. I’m only just finishing season 3 so no spoilers please.. but I can’t wait to find out what the ‘best ever’ ending is that everyone talks about. Hope I’m not spoiling it by always trying to guess it while I’m watching..anyway..off to watch second half of season three finale.
Thanks again and love your blog.
Oh gosh I can totally relate. My kids have stuffed dogs that they would die without. Literally. I think my older son would off himself if Dog ever got lost. Thank goodness you turned out to be so amazing at slouching.
Um…you just referenced pulling baby Jessica from the well seamlessly in a blog post. I think you should win a prize.
Oh, there were seams
Amateurs. You need to buy and switch out the second one much sooner, keep rotating them so they wear evenly.
Wait a year? You are lucky you found a duplicate. Those Ty pluffies – which are the best – go out of production and you are SOL.
Seriously, that advice should be in a book or new parents
My almost-two-year-old daughter has one of those weird ‘taggie’ type blankets. You know the kind – about 12-inches square with little satin tags sewed along the edge. His name is Stinky. Mostly because he *is* stinky, most of the time. I don’t know why it is a ‘he’, because he is pink. Well, originally, anyway. He’s kind of pink, with a dullish-gray tinge. Anyway, Stinky is all but glued to my daughter most of the day. Except for when we *need* him. He always seems to disappear at the most inopportune of times. Like bedtime. Or tantrum time. One time, I almost lost him at Costco. (What is it with Costco?) My husband was strapping our daughter into her car seat and asked me, “Where’s Stinky?” Me: “F**k. She doesn’t have him?!” Husband: “I *told* you not to let her take him into the store!” Me *running towards store, shouting behind me* “I’ll find him!” Thankfully, retracing our steps, I found him, on top of a vitamin display. I almost cried. Stinkly lost his free-range privileges after that episode. If I could lo-jack that blanket, I would.
Love this
My mom “lost” the outdoor rabbit (hoppity). Hippity was the indoor never leave the house stuffed animal. In a panic, even though it was the evil twin, she ordered every animal that even looked similar from the jellycat company. Upon spend copious amounts of money Hoppity was immediately found.
However, McClain was thrilled to have lambkin join the family when he arrived via overnight shipping the next day.
those jellycat people must make a fortune. that’s what my kid and my niece hang on to all the time. must be something about how floppy they are.
My 2 year old son has a stuffed dog named Dug, because that’s the way he said dog for a while, that’s been with him since birth. Is not too much that I’m having Dug tattooed on me in 2 weeks, is it?
Yes it is. Please don’t do that.
We bought my son a duplicate of his favourite stuffy, Ed, when he was a baby and would dutifully switch the stuffy every now and then so they would get equally ‘loved’. We were careful to keep only one in circulations thinking (stupidly) he would be traumatized that there were two Eds. When our son was five he woke us up one morning, with more excitement than usual. “Guess what? There’s TWO Ed’s!!! Ed has a twin!” We now have two Eds to look out for.
We have had many of the same events with my son and his bear Carter. My boy child is 9+ years old now, Carter looks 900+ years old but is still his best friend. Over the years that bear has been lost more times than I can count… the most entertaining was probably the time he was left behind in Costco at closing time but I had to convince the guy to let me in and that we had only been there to buy laundry detergent and milk so we didn’t have to search the whole store. That was about 7 years ago and as I type this it is bedtime and I was just asked “do you remember moving Carter today?” *sigh* Carter is like my 3rd child, only he doesn’t eat my food, makes messes or ask for money. Maybe his games of hide and seek isn’t so awful come to think about it…
Amazing how more attached to our childrens precious posession we become as parents. Glad you found him!