Posse
One tattered elephant
One small monkey
One mediuim-sized monkey
One baby doll
One puppy
One teddy bear
These are not the attendants of a Furry convention, (look that up, I'll wait) but rather the entourage that accompanies my 2 year old to bed each night. They must be properly tucked in on either side of her, and often I find her sleeping with her arms outstretched, like wings, encompassing these critters. Each morning, they must make the trek downstairs where, excepting for the favored elephant, they are totally ignored until it is time to go to bed again. I find it really hard, when half asleep, to maneuver ruby and this posse down the stairs. I have bed head and bad breath and 3 or 4 critters tucked under one arm while I hold one of ruby’s hands, not THAT one, the other, mama, as we make our way down to the living room. One morning I tried suggesting we get a bag for these buddies. That was a sad catastrophe that I still cannot speak of to this day. This morning, we chucked each one down the stairs one at a time as Ruby did a litany of “ouch ouch ouch” for each bump and tumble they took. Now THAT was kinda fun.
As previously mentioned, the elephant, Doh, is her favorite friend. When she was still teething, she’d chew on his ears until they were sopping wet, and frankly disgusting. When it was clear that, out of all the stuffed animals she had, THIS random elephant was her favorite, I searched online until I found a place I could buy multiples. We had four, but one has gone unaccounted for. I’m a little worried about this clone being either out in the world alone or stuffed, hidden in a remote nook of the house never to be found again. I think Ruby knows there is more than one, or at least that sometimes Doh is, I don't know... DIFFERENT. But she doesn't seem to mind.
Ruby, most often when she is feeling upset or sad, will say “Doh nice and clean” which means he needs to be taken into the other room where I pretend to clean him, and then brought back. This ritual began benignly enough, but now it is demanded IN A VERY LOUD SCREAMY voice at bed time when she doesn’t want to go to sleep or, in the middle of the night. If that demand doesn’t get a response, she may scream for another book in bed for a while. No response? Okay. MILK! Yeah, we’re working on that.
But for the most part this little tattered elephant is a haven for her, often when she gets back home at the end of the day, she says in her sweet lilting way “doh! It’s so nice to SEEEEee you!”. Ah young love.
