We all knew that it would happen. That the day would come when the Lamby or one of the bunnies couldn’t be found. Of course, this would happen when Mom and Dad had a babysitter for the evening, and they would spend more than an hour of quality babysitting time trying to locate Lamby. And, of course, this would happen during the week that the wood floors were being refinished, when everything was where it wasn’t supposed to be to begin with.
After an hour of looking, Mom and Dad had lost the dinner reservations, and they decided to go to the store to try to locate a new Lamby. They knew that this was a long shot, and, sure enough, there was no match at the store. Mom and Dad did the next best thing, they bought two very soft, very cuddly Lamby-like sungglies in order to offer to Tessa in hopes that she would be mollified. After getting some take out, they came home.
All asleep, the sitter reported. No one, not even Tessa, was upset when they went to bed. Hmmmm, thought Mom and Dad. Maybe this isn’t as bad as we thought that it would be. As soon, and we mean AS SOON, as the sitter left through the front door, Tessa woke up crying for Lamby. Dad went up to her room and offered her the Lamby replacements.
“Tessa needs Lamby,” Riley said. “She wants Lamby, like Riley has Bunny.”
“How about this great Dinosaur, Tessa? Or this Monkey?” Dad asked.
“No,” Tessa cried. “I need Lamby.”
At that point, Dad exited the room Mom came in and tried again, offering Tessa the Lamby-like snugglies.
“Tessa needs Lamby,” Tessa said, repeating Riley’s refrain.
“But the dinosaur is soft like Lamby.”
“No!”
“It’s blue and green and white…”
“No!” cried Tessa.
“Blue?” asked Riley.
“How about this Monkey?” Mom asked. “Look, it is so soft.” Mom rubbed the Monkey on Tessa’s cheek to demonstrate. Tessa seemed to be deciding if perhaps the Monkey was a good replacement. But that lasted for just a moment, then she said, “Lamby!”
“Look, T,” Mom said. “If I take the tag off, it will be even softer.”
Snap! went the plastic connecting the tag to the stuffed animal.
“I found it!” Dad yelled from down the hall. He came into the room, brandishing the snuggly in question.
“Where was it?” Mom asked.
“It was stuffed all the way down in between the cushions on our couch.”
“Lamby!” Tessa said. She was so happy. She tucked Lamby under her arm and smiled sweetly.
After hugs and kisses, Mom and Dad were ready to put us to bed for the night.
“Mom?” Riley said. “I need the blue Dino-Lamby.”
“What?”
“I need the Dino-Lamby. Please.”
And then Tessa chimed in, “Monkey, please?”
So, now, instead of locating a replacement for the once-lost Lamby, each Tessa and Riley have acquired additional snugglies. Mom and Dad thought that maybe these new additions would lose their luster after a bit. But, no. Tessa and Riley have developed deep, abiding affection for their new animals. Instead of just needing a Lamby or a Bunny to go to bed, they both need a second snuggly, which, of course, ups the odds that all of this will happen again.
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