Followers, meet Happy

I think it is time for me to introduce everyone to another member of our family. Followers, meet Happy. Happy was a gift from Gran to Addie for her first Christmas. Because Addie was only about 6 months old, her first Christmas was just not too exciting for her. She wasn't really interested in any of the toys and didn't even care enough to play with the wrapping paper. But then she saw Happy. A pink stuffed penguin. (Adam named him because of Addie's sweet reaction to him....he made her happy.)

As Adam pulled him out of the box and handed him to her, her face lit up. She reached out and grabbed him. She held onto him the entire day. It took a while before I felt comfortable with it, but as soon as she could convince me, he started taking naps with her. Then he moved on to sleeping with her at night. He got kisses and hugs all day every day. She would lay in her bed and instead of crying for me when she woke up, she would sit and babble to him.

She was pretty much born teething and didn't stop until she had a full set, so his sweet little arms were what she teethed on. Oh, the smell. Yuck. Juice, milk, puffs, baby food, and everything else she ate, combined with her baby drool and went straight to his arms. It was terrible. He had to be washed. I prayed really intently for him, stuffed him into a pillow case, tied a knot into the end, and threw him into the washing machine. He survived!!! I was so thrilled and relieved. But then I wondered, how many times would he survive? (He had to air-dry though, no clothes dryer!)

Her first Easter rolled around and the worst possible thing happened...we left him in the nursery at church. There wasn't anyone there that afternoon because of the holiday. She screamed and refused to take a nap that day. She screamed and fought going to bed that night. Oh, how she missed him! First thing Monday morning, I left a frantic message on the church's machine. I couldn't wait. I called Adam at work and he sent the pastor a message.

As I went into the church, I felt like a panic hit. What if he wasn't there?! I raced through to the nursery and praise the Lord, he was there. Right there on the diaper changing table where she left him. She squeezed him so hard, I was afraid she would pull his head off. She fell asleep with him in her arms before I made it out of the church parking lot. I only thought she was attached to him before....now, most likely afraid she would lose him again, she was worse than ever.

I had to find a "Happy backup." But it had been months since my mom found him at Old Navy. They had already done their seasonal clearance. My mom searched on the internet. I called stores in New York and North Carolina. Nothing. Addie and I went to have lunch with Adam one day and we went shopping. Adam decided to ask the sales girl if she remembered having pink penguins back at Christmas. She actually did. She said she had been packing up all their old stuff to send to the warehouse and had seen one in there. So she went to the back for what seemed like an eternity and returned telling of how she had done something that sounded like dumpster diving. She presented a Happy and explained how sorry she was that there was a speck of dirt on his nose and that she knew we probably didn't want a dirty penguin...I could have kissed her.

Addie still is unaware of the replacement. I switch them out every time I wash him so they will both be worn and she won't notice a difference. She doesn't carry him around all day anymore, but he still takes naps with her and sleeps with her at night. Adam and I say that Happy knows "all the good stuff." She tells him everything. She still wakes up in the morning and talks to him before she is ready to start her day. She still sits in her room and talks to him instead of taking a nap. Every time she wakes up, she brings Happy out of her room and sits him in his special place on the back of the couch where he patiently waits on her.

Last week when I went in to get her, she decided that Happy was still tired and needed to stay in the bed to get some more rest. Yesterday when Adam went in to get her, she had Happy laying on her pillow, covered up with her blanket. But today tops it all. This morning, I went in her room. She was standing there as always waiting for me. "Good morning, Addie!" I say. "Hey, momma. I take a good nap!" she says. As a start to pick her up she tells me, "Let me get all my stuff." And she gathers her blanket and pillow. Then she walks over to the other side of the bed and picks up Happy. She tells me, "Happy was in time-out 'cause him not nice."

Whatever he did, all was forgiven by nap time when she chattered to him the entire time instead of sleeping. Oh, to know the things that Happy knows!!!