About 2.5 years ago, Gerritt received a stuffed dalmatian puppy as a goodbye present from Ms. Tamara, his beloved Russian daycare teacher. He fell in love with it instantly &, along with his stuffed brown dog from Ikea, carried it with him everywhere including bed, car, park, dentist, etc. After a while, as Gerritt's collection of stuffed animals grew, the dalmatian occasionally got left behind. When Gerritt turned 4 years old, in my haste to get rid of all malfunctioning & less popular toys, I donated the dalmatian to Goodwill. Gerritt seemed to prefer his brown dog, &, in my mind, wasn't going to miss the worn out, floppy dalmatian.
Unfortunately, I was wrong. Gerritt not only noticed its absence, but he wanted it back. After being told that the dalmatian got donated so other children who didn't have any toys could play with it, Gerritt insisted on looking for his dalmatian on every shopping trip to Goodwill. We also looked for a replacement dalmatian at Target, Fred Meyer, Costco & Walmart without much luck. The rare dalmatians we found either were not the right size, were not soft or cute enough.
Yesterday I took Gerritt & Sophia with me on a shopping trip to Ikea. Of course, we had to stop by the kids' section to play & look around &, what joy!, discovered a large box full of soft dalmatians for sale. Sophia got a soft bunny & Gerritt got a new dalmatian puppy. It was worth a long trip to Ikea to see Gerritt's lit up face. Peace & happiness restored...for now.
