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Friday, May 21, 2010

our toy story


This week we had an adventure. But first, I need to introduce you to Lyevka (li-yev-kah), the Little Miss' best and softest friend. Husband speaks Russian so he has dubbed all of her stuffed animals with Russian names - it means little lion. She calls him Kevka and sleeps with him every night and is starting to want to take him everywhere. So on our thrifting trip this week I let her carry him inside hoping that if she was hugging him it would keep her seated and content in the cart.

Fast forward to a few hours later when we are home and it is time for her nap and I can't find Lyevka anywhere... and then it hits me that the last time I saw him was as we were walking into the thrift store that morning. I cannot begin to tell you how sick I felt at the thought that I had lost him! Our poor little lion was left behind. I didn't say anything to the Little Miss because she will sleep with other stuffed animals, so I laid her down and then commenced panicking. I called the thrift store and they said I would have to come in and search for the lion myself, but I knew I couldn't get there for a few more hours so thoughts of someone buying my little girl's favorite playmate plagued me.


This is the part where you are probably thinking, what's the big deal? And I might have said the same thing until this happened. After I hung up the phone with the thrift store I started sobbing - the kind of sobbing that takes you by surprise because you don't really know why it is affecting you so much. But since I knew that Lyevka was a big part of my little girl's world then he was a big part of mine too. Not to mention I felt horrible and knew it was my fault for forgetting we had brought him.

When Husband got home from work we set out on a rescue mission. We drove out to the thrift store and I basically laid down on the floor to see if she had dropped him - no luck. I checked the top of every rack - no luck. I walked down the toy aisle and didn't see him - I was beginning to get worried. I decided to look down every aisle while Husband and the Little Miss gave the toy aisle a more thorough look. I walked down several aisles when all of a sudden the Little Miss came running around a corner yelling, "Mommy, mommy! Kevka!" with the biggest smile on her face. It was a moment I never want to forget. And then I almost started crying with relief. Turns out he was patiently waiting for us on the bottom shelf of the toy aisle half hidden by other toys.

I have learned my lesson well - Lyevka will never come shopping with us ever again!

2 comments:

  1. Same thing happened to us, with my daughter's pink puppy she wouldn't even NAP without it and still sleeps with it. We left it at WalMart, and after calling the lost and found on a daily basis with no luck, we finally headed out there 3 days later (school and one working car meant we drove to stores only when absolutely necessary). We were about to leave the store with no puppy when my husband took a round-about way to the bathroom, and came back holding the puppy- I guess the stuffed friend had been chillin' on a clearance shelf the whole time. I cried right there in the middle of wal mart!!!

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  2. That is the best story! I could totally feel your emotion as I was reading it. I am so glad she found him!

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