Ducky

When Brisbane was in the NICU after he was born, my mother felt like he needed some company.  You know, for those long nights when his mother went home to get some sleep.  So we trucked off to Toys 'R Us and my mother bought him a duck and a frog.  The hospital also gave him a beanie baby shark for his crib/clear bassinet.  Basically, it was more than a little crowded.  But almost every night of his life he has slept with these three critters, who are now affectionately named: Ducky, Froggy, and Toothy (I know, we are very original).

Well Ducky has moved into the lead as Brisbane's favorite.  He drags that thing all over the house.  Before he could walk, he would crawl around carrying Ducky between his teeth.  And he still can be found chewing on Ducky as he walks around the house.  One of Ducky's legs almost came off, so I lovingly sewed it back on (after I had gotten sick of all the stuffing falling out all over the place).  

When Melanie came to visit, she picked up Ducky and said, "Wow.  Looks like Ducky has been taken outside one too many times."  No.  Ducky has never left the confines of our house except to go on vacation.  Ducky has never been played with outside, and yet Ducky was filthy.  I had even just washed him a few days earlier, but Brisbane loves him too much and can't keep him clean.

So when my mom was here a few weeks ago she decided to buy some decoy duckies.  She went to Toys R' Us and bought two backup duckies (you know, in case the leg permanently becomes separated from the body, or one has to be laundered).  The decoy duckies were pretty close to the original, but were definitely different.  They were made of a different type of fabric and were way brighter (from not being drug around and laundered).  My mom introduced Brisbane to Ducky, Episode Two (my name) or Ducky 2.0 (Mack's name).  The look on his face let us know that he knew it was different ....but ....acceptable.  He proceeded to walk around with Ducky, Episode 2.

First mistake was when Brisbane went into the laundry room with me to get something and he saw Ducky, Episode ONE rolling around in the washing machine.  He wanted to get that thing out of there. I had to pull a fast one by taking Ducky, Episode 2 into the laundry room when he wasn't looking and bringing it out like I had pulled it from the washing machine.  He accepted it...disaster averted.

Then one day while Mack and I were trying to keep the other two rugrats from mischief, Brisbane moseyed into our bedroom...into our closet...and found the stash of duckies, Ducky, Episode 1 and Ducky, Episode 3.

 The kid could not have been more excited!  TWO DUCKIES!?!?  It was as if all of his wildest dreams had come true.

Then he found the Ducky, Episode 2 (I know this is confusing but that was the one he was supposed to have at the time).  THREE DUCKIES!?!?!  So many duckies he didn't have enough hands.  It was heaven.
We let him play with them the rest of the night and then the extras went straight back into hiding.  Of course he knows they are there now, so he will try to get into the closet to get the stash.  I just tell him they are sleeping and he has to leave them there (no sense in getting them all hole ridden and dirty at the same time).
I hope that in ten years he will still find joy in the simplest of things.