Wednesday, June 07, 2006

The things we do...

Monday night I was at Kohl’s and bought Noelle a little stuffed turtle – Vern, from the movie Over the Hedge. I gave it to her Tuesday morning and she was instantly smitten. We sent him with her to the babysitter, where she gave him food & drinks, covered him up for naps, and carried him everywhere.

When I picked her up that afternoon, I noticed that Vern had a couple of holes in his belly, one where the stuffing was poking out. Then, the string on his mouth started to come out and Noelle was devastated. Apparently I’d bought a defective turtle & I thought I’d just fix the problems when we got him home.

When we did get home she was so upset that I couldn’t have taken him away from her to fix him. (Did I mention the lack of nap that day? I think that may have had just a tiny bit to do with such a big production.)

So – we told her we’d take him to the turtle doctor. Brian, Noelle, Vern, & I loaded up in the car and headed to Kohl’s. She kept saying “Take him to the doptor!”, “Go take him to the doptor!”. And she gave him hugs & kisses. Then she fell asleep. (Thankfully, otherwise I don’t know how I would’ve taken Vern away from her for the turtle trade-out.)

So I went in and inspected five or six other turtles to find perfection. I finally found it and took them both to the “doctor” at the check out counter. This doctor was a guy about 20, who had on more makeup than Boy George out for a night with Beetlejuice. It’s a good thing this turtle was stuffed. We made the switch & I got back out of there.

Noelle woke up when we got home, but she was so sleepy & out of it she had no idea about Vern & the turtle doctor that works at Kohl’s. She did, however, remember when she woke up this morning. She was so happy “Vern is all better!” that she hugged and kissed him, and she nearly had to wear her pjs today because she wouldn’t put him down to change her clothes.

This is, so far, the oddest thing I’ve done as a mom. (Maybe preparing me for a real fish swap later?) It’s also one of my favorite stories ever.

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