Bear

This story deserves its own post.  As we arrived at our gate at the Houston airport from Atlanta, we started to gather our things.  We came to a horrible realization that Bear was no where to be seen.  OMG!  I frantically looked through all of our carry-ons, under the seat, in the chair-back pockets, I asked the people sitting in front of us and behind us.  Had they seen Bear?  OMG!!  What were we going to do? How was Austin going to go to sleep tonight????  Bear was missing.  The last time I remember seeing him was while we were waiting for our flight out at the Atlanta airport.  AH!  I became hysterical and cried and cried.  We told Austin that Bear stayed with Skeet (a cousin in Georgia) and that he would be sending him back soon.  Yes, we lied to our son.  Austin did surprisingly well that night.  He slept with his monkey lovie, which is the lovie that he naps with at school.  The next day was a Saturday so I got online to see if any stores in Houston had the exact same Bear lovie in stock.  I called at least 25 stores, and I am not exaggerating.  Not a single one of them had the exact same Bear in stock.  I had to describe it to each person who answered the phone.  Many of them responded "we have a light brown bunny" or "we have a dark brown bear" or "we have a bear that is attached to a blanket".  Of course, these would work. So I found Bear on amazon and ordered it with expedited shipping ($45 total) for a Tuesday arrival.  It was coming from Japan on a boat.  Ha, yes I was desperate.  Austin continued to sleep at night with monkey and would occasionally ask for Bear when we got home from school and when he woke up in the mornings.  We told him Skeet was borrowing him and would be sending him back soon.  On Tuesday, I got an email from amazon while at work saying that Bear was damaged in route (what the heck?) and I should expect a full refund. I freaked out - I don't care about a refund, I just need Bear to arrive tonight.  Well, I was out of luck with the Bear from Japan.  I got back on amazon and did find another one from a US retailer.  I ordered this one and it was set to arrive Friday.  Phew!  Bear arrived on our porch on Friday night about 30 minutes after Austin went to sleep so we had to wait until the morning for the happy reunion.  We let Austin open the box and he was SOOO happy to be reunited with his Bear.  It made mommy happy too! :)  Of course his teeth are probably going to be paying for this down the road since he really only seems to suck his thumb when he is holding Bear.  Oh well.....