Thursday, December 22, 2011

Mr. Elephant

What's got curly gray hair, smells like a mixture of sour milk and saliva, and has a matted, flattened tail due to an overdose of love?  That would be the "man" of the hour in our sweet little kingdom-- a guy we like to call Mr. Elephant.

I always thought it was the cutest thing when kids  toted their "loveys" from place to place.  When my two little bald-headed trouble makers were born, I was crossing my fingers that one of them would find the stuffed animal of their dreams.

So, I got "lucky."  At about seven months, Corbin developed a deep, manly bond with a stuffed elephant (slightly ironic that my lean little man would love a stuffed image of the world's fattest land animal).  And then reality set in.  The grossness of a stuffed creature that is gnawed, spit up on, sneezed on, and snotted on day in and day out.  The anxiousness of having to carve out an hour of my day once a week to wash Monsieur Elephant without Corbin realizing it.  And the fear that haunts me at this moment . . . misplacing this smelly little monstrosity.

And now I sit.  Staring at the Ebay page.  My frugal, thrifty pride fights against the reality that a lost Mr. Elephant tragedy could have for our family.  But pay $10 for a second Mr. Elephant?  This stuffed little thing that I know was only a few dollars?  My finger hesitates over the button.

I cave.  Mr. Elephant II (or Dr. Elephant as we have decided to name him) will be arriving in 3-5 business days.  And I give a sigh of relief.  A future elephant-sized tragedy has been averted--peace on earth will continue.

Mr. Elephant's Christmas portrait:


It's hard to get a pic of Mr. Elephant where he doesn't look like a piece of mangled prey hanging from his predator's mouth.


1 comment:

  1. I feel ya! Caleb has Bunny-Bear (a bear in a bunny suit -- really? why confuse the poor kid)...he'd be ok now if we lost them but at 16 months he hid it somewhere and after me, my mother in law and her friend all SCOURED the house with him screaming at our heels because he wouldn't sleep, my MIL drove us around town to different toy shops and we had no luck because lucky us, TY only puts out a limited number of each animal. So after we dozed a little while she drove (remember I was 6 months pregnant), we ended up back at home facing a really tough bedtime. Amazingly, I put it up on Facebook and a friend of mine whose son was born the same month as Caleb had been given the SAME bear, in yellow! So that is now 'Sunny Bunny', who is a great alternative.

    FYI, it turns out Caleb had learned to work the diaper pail and stuck Bunny-Bear in it. Gross. Washed in hot water a few times, good as new. And my MIL caved and bought a $30 extra to have on hand, on Ebay. So don't feel bad about $10 if it saves you this potential disaster! :)

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