Treasure Chests (and little boys)

Both the boys got little padlocked treasure chests for Valentines Day from their grandparents. Not 30 minutes went by before Benjamin came to me to ask how to open the padlock.

"Where are the keys?" I asked.

"Inside."

So I called Christopher over with his locked treasure chest.

"Where are your keys?"

"Inside."

I guess it was the safest place for them... Fortunately the quality of the lock made it easy to open with a well-wiggled safety pin, and we were back in business (and this time, I saved one of the keys).

Being Prepared

Last weekend, David and I had a night on the town - which for us means dinner without kids, and we're always home by 11. Anyway, as we wandered through the icy streets of Stockholm, David stuck his hands in the pocket of his coat (which used to be Daddy's) and found a set of Daddy's business/personal cards. David noted that every coat he has of Daddy's (several, since they were the same size) comes equipped with a pair of gloves and a set of cards neatly tucked into one of the pockets. So like him... and so nice to have a reminder of him in an unexpected way.

The Disappearance of Baby

One of my favorite jokes (from when I was about 10) -

"Why do you always find something in the last place you look?"

Punch line - "Because you stop looking when you find it."

Actually, the punch line should read, "Because you have looked in every conceivable place, in the car, in the bathrooms, in the cupboards, in all bags and backpacks, under the sofa, on top of the wardrobe, in the shoes... and the in desperation, you Googled it, and finally found a potential source for a new one on some obscure webstite in Kentucky... "

Yep, last weekend, Baby (Christopher's blue teddy bear) disappeared. Actually, he was gone for a couple of days, long enough for nobody to really remember when he was last seen. Christopher didn't even notice for a few days, and David, Annika and I only discussed Baby's disapperance in code when he was around, lest he should clue in that Baby was indeed missing.

Finally, on Monday night, after I had searched the house top to bottom, Christopher finally noticed. At bedtime, he started asking, "Where Baby? Him not here." When I tried to explain that Baby was surely having fun with friends, Christopher kept insisting, "Him can't walk." He got a bit tearful - as did I...

The loss of Baby was like losing a wonderful picture of Christopher, the one where he wanders in sleepily on a Saturday morning, clutching Baby by the paw. Or the picture of him sleeping with one arm around Baby and one around his 2-4 rags... Or the picture of him tromping proudly through the airport with Baby's head sticking out of his backpack... Neither one of us was ready to let go...

With Christopher finally asleep (with a stuffed dog, a poor substitute) and Annika looking over my shoulder, I searched the internet for collectors sites (Baby is a discontinued Ty Beanie Buddie named Baby Boy) and almost bought one, though I had second thoughts about where to have him shipped, and how to explain to Christopher how Baby had really spruced himself up... when my brilliant husband suggested checking the piano bench. Yup - there, looking slightly flatter, was Baby! I tucked him in Christopher's arms, kissed them both and snuck off to bed.