The day we lost Bear...

Anyone who has ever spend any time with Joshua has invariably met Bear. He's a green blanket with a bear head attached to the top of it. His ears are a little crusty, even after several washings, from being sucked on and chewed on. His flat head is perfect for cuddling when Joshua is tired, and is usually tucked in the crook of his neck as he walks around the house. He loves Bear.

Saturday morning, Joshua and I headed out for a quick trip to the Lycoming Mall. I had an outfit that needed to be returned to Gymboree that I've been putting off doing in the interest of time. But I had time for a quick trip on Saturday morning before Aunt Libby got here to visit. So off we went. Joshua was napping in the car on the way to the mall. And where there's a nap, there's Bear. When I got to the mall, he was still asleep and had Bear cuddled in his arms, so when I lifted him out of the car seat, Bear followed. Into the stroller they both went. And then we proceeded to cover every square inch of the Lycoming Mall- in and out of Borders, JC Penney, Bon Ton and finally Gymboree (all on different ends of the mall, mind you). With a successful shopping trip under our belts, we headed back to the car to get Joshua home for his milk and his lunch (I was pushing it on both). And that's when I realized that we had lost a member of our party. Bear was gone!

I panicked. The first thing I thought to do after searching the car, the diaper bag, my purse, etc. was to call Jason at home. I think the conversation went something like this. "We have a CRISIS!" Jason says, "Oh my goodness. What's the matter?" I say, "Bear is GONE!" Then I headed back into the mall to retrace my steps. I looked at every rack we had browsed through. I talked to every Customer Service desk to see if anyone had turned it in. I even stopped two janitorial staff in the hallways of the mall to see if they'd picked up anything in their travels. No one had seen Bear. Interestingly, the people who did not have children looked at me like I was a complete loon. Those who were mothers just looked broken hearted and said they were so sorry...they had been there once themselves. So, dejected, we went home. I was a mess about it. The only way I can describe it is that I felt like a terrible mother. I'd lost my son's best friend. What kind of a parent could let that happen?

Naptime came and went, and he slept just fine with a substitute Bear (now affectionately referred to as "Blue Bear") that my mom had made for just such an occasion. As it turns out Bear was handmade and can't be replaced exactly, but Nana's version did the trick for naps and bedtime on Saturday. Apparently I was much more devastated about the loss of Bear than Joshua was.

On Sunday morning I thought I'd do one more round of phone calls to the stores we were in as well as the mall's main number to see if, by chance, Bear had been located during the night's cleaning. All of my calls were turning out to be dead ends until I called the Bon Ton. The woman I talked to came back to the phone and said, "What color is this Bear?" When I told her he was light green she said, "I'm holding him in my hand." Jason went to rescue Bear from his night at the mall on Sunday afternoon. After which I promptly put him in the washer. I think Joshua was happy to see Bear after their night apart. And I don't think Bear will be leaving the car the next time we go to the mall...

Before I was a mom, I would never have dreamed that I would be running around the mall during Christmas shopping season on a search for a green bear blanket. But that's exactly what we did. I'm just happy that Bear is home.

Joshua and Daddy were playing on Sunday morning. Jason thought Joshua needed to have his "home boy" look going with the hood. Cute, right?

Notice the great job he was going with the Swiffer on our wood floors too. He loves that thing- don't ask me why.