So long, Mr. Monkey

Quick, call the police! Call the rescue units! Call the fire department! Call....anyone who can help! MR. MONKEY IS LOST!!!!!!


It finally happened. We lost Mr. Monkey. Oh what a sad, sad, SAD day for all of us. Yesterday, we got in the car with Mr. Monkey....and came home without him.


Jacob has had Mr. Monkey ever since he was born. He is part of our family. When he was just a tiny thing, he grew attached to this little security blanket and it is his most cherished posession. Where Jacob is, Mr. Monkey is also. He plays with Mr. Monkey, sleeps with Mr. Monkey and has to know where Mr. Monnkey is at ALL times. When Jacob is upset about something, Mr. Monkey helps calm him down. When we give Mr. Monkey a bath (throw him in the washing machine), Jacob will sometimes stand in the laundry room and cry until Mr. Monkey comes out. Pitiful.


The strange thing is, even though he is so attached to Mr. Monkey, oftentimes, Jacob will casually throw him on the ground or throw him out of the stroller if we are out somewhere. I usually notice when this happens and pick him up so he doesn't get left behind. Occasionally, I don't see him get thrown out and someone will chase me down, "Ma'am, did you lose this?" Whenever this happens, my heart sinks to my stomach for a moment thinking of what I would do if we actually did lose Mr. Monkey.


I needed to do a little shopping yesterday, so Annabelle, Jacob, Mr. Monkey and I headed to Savannah. There were several places I needed to go, and on the way, I was already wondering if I would be able to get everything done. We met Heath for lunch first and after we ate, Jacob was ready for a nap, but since we were going shopping, that nap wasn't going to happen.


We went to two places before getting to the mall. Annabelle had already eaten twice and Jacob was getting more and more tired. By the time we got to the mall, Annabelle was hungry AGAIN, so I found a place to sit and feed her while Jacob ate a pretzel from Auntie Anne's. About the time we got up to resume shopping, I realized Jacob wasn't holding Mr. Monkey. I searched the stroller....he wasn't there. I searched the diaper bag....nothing. Then, I started to panic. Of course, Jacob was now crying because he wanted Mr. Monkey too. I traced and retraced (several times) my steps through the mall and talked to people in the two stores I went in asking if anyone had seen a little blue blanket with a monkey head on it. No such luck. Mr. Monkey was gone.

I searched the car, hoping maybe we had left him in the car seat, but he wasn't there either -- not in the car seat, not on the floor, not in the back. Jacob was crying and I was on the verge of tears too. I called Heath, who called the other stores we had visited earlier and left our phone number just in case Mr. Monkey turned up.

I always said if we ever lost Mr. Monkey, I would probably cry harder than Jacob. Well, I did cry, off and on, pretty much all the way home. I was dreading bedtime. What would Jacob do without Mr. Monkey?

Surprisingly, Jacob has handled it fairly well. He keeps saying, "Mr. Monkey....gone????" He's been holding onto Mr. Monkey's cousin (an ivory blanket just like Mr. Monkey), but I can tell he doesn't like it as much. He never did. But, it will have to do for now. Heath found an online store that sells monkey blankets like the one we lost and we've ordered a new one. I told Jacob we talked to Santa about Mr. Monkey being lost and asked if he could bring us a new one. This will be the third time Santa has visited us since Christmas -- once on Christmas morning, again to bring the new dvd player (that actually works), and now a third time to bring a new Mr. Monkey.

The new Mr. Monkey won't be anything like the old one. It won't be dirty. It won't have a rip all the way down the side. The stuffing will still be intact. Heath suggested before we let Jacob see it, perhaps we should take it outside and rub it in the dirt, rip it down the side and take out all stuffing. Just a thought.

For now, we've survived one night and one naptime without Mr. Monkey, so seemingly, all is well. Maybe we didn't need to order the new one after all, but I'm glad we did...just in case. It's still sad to me that Mr. Monkey is gone. That was Jacob's little blanket. I still have my blanket that I used when I was little. I thought we'd keep Mr. Monkey for Jacob too. Oh well. I am just glad Jacob seems to be taking the loss like a champ...for now, anyway. I'll keep you posted!