Stand Up and be Counted!

A lot of children have a favorite comfort creature that they latch on to and carry around – or, if not a creature, then possibly a favorite blanket or article of clothing. As a child my “comforter” was a pink baby blanket outlined with a satin, silky edge – ahhhhh, even now if I close my eyes and let my mind drift, I can almost feel that same sensation that dominated my world. Sucking my thumb and feeling the silkiness of my blanket was everything I needed in life. That blanket was my trusted friend. It took many years for me to give up my blanket and thumb sucking.  My mother literally tried everything – from putting hot sauce on my finger, to making, what I’ll call, mittens for my hands.  She would tie them on each night before I went to bed.  The mittens were like little sacs in that they had no fingers.  I would lay in bed and beg my sister to untie the mittens knowing that I would be punished in the morning if the mittens weren’t securely on my little wrists upon waking up. There were even nights that I’d bite a hole in the mitten, just to get to my thumb. I was more than willing to take the spanking the next day just as long as I could get some comfort. I don’t recall when it happened (at what age), but I know that the first step was getting rid of my blanket. It’s a wonder that I wasn’t scarred for life.  

Fast forward some almost 70 years later.  I brought my second granddaughter (Svea), for her first Christmas, of all things, a plush, pink giraffe, who her father affectionately named Ingrid. Svea and Ingrid instantly became besties, two peas in a pod – inseparable!!! You see Svea, you see Ingrid.  In fact, in most of the pictures I have of Svea, Ingrid is there. She has other “stuffies” but Ingrid is her favorite.  

Last year when Svea (now 2-½) came to visit with her mother, father and sister, Morgan, I was met with an unhappy face.  Svea arrived with Yiddy (her other friend), but NO Ingrid!!! My daughter explained to me that unbeknownst to everyone, they mistakenly left Ingrid home. OMG – Svea was having a melt-down.  My daughter explained to her that Ingrid was “on vacation” and would be arriving sometime during their visit to Maryland. She quickly went on Amazon and ordered another “Ingrid” which was due to arrive sometime the next evening.  We were all sitting at the dinner table that next night when the doorbell rang and guess who it was – INGRID!!!!  At first, Svea wasn’t so sure about Ingrid. It appeared that she had taken a serious bath and was all cleaned up.  Upon closer inspection she squealed with delight – INGRID!!!! She proceeded to give her plenty of hugs and kisses.  Upon returning to Austin, Texas, my daughter hid the “real” Ingrid for safe keeping.  

I arranged to go to Austin for Svea’s 3rd birthday (in March). Of course, who met me at the door – Morgan, Svea and of course, Ingrid!!!  During the visit, I took Morgan, Svea and Ingrid, to this really nice children’s park.  This place is a little city – equipped with a section that included swings and sandboxes and slides and yet another whole section that mirrors a regular city. It has its own gas station, a Chick-fil-A, a fire station, real sidewalks and traffic lights that actually change from red to yellow to green, school crossing signs, caution lights, etc. This place was AMAZING! Side note: The thing I’ve noticed about Texas, in general, is that everything is so spread out. I guess growing up in New York I’m used to things going up – not out. Nothing compares to the extra tall buildings in N.Y.! Well in Texas, things spread out for miles and miles.  Passing by the Tesla plant while in Austin, it seemed as if it went on for miles and miles – wow! Anyway, back to the park. We also took their bikes with us because in yet another section there is a mini “racetrack”. After leaving the first sand park we headed over to the other side near the racetrack.  The girls had taken off their shoes to play in the sandbox. Once we got to the other side, I realized that Svea was missing a shoe – OH NO.  Now we all had to go back to the sandbox way on the other side to find the lost shoe. I was fortunate to find it relatively quickly.  The entire time Morgan (the 4-1/2-year-old) was protesting about having to go back because she wanted to ride her bike on the racetrack. Once on the other side for the second time, Svea wanted to play in yet another sandbox area.  I was desperately trying to watch both girls at the same time.  We parked Svea’s little tricycle right outside of the sandbox area.  I wouldn’t let her take Ingrid in the sandbox, so I put her in the back of the tricycle in a little compartment. I went just across the way to check on Morgan and when I turned back to watch Svea, I noticed that some little boy was sitting on Svea’s tricycle, and worst of all, Ingrid was missing!!!!! I immediately started panicking!!!! I didn’t want to accuse this nice little boy of taking Ingrid but in actuality I wanted to grab him by his shoulders, shake him and demand that he produce Ingrid. I managed, with a quick prayer, to control myself and after getting him off of the tricycle with his mother profusely apologizing, I ran and got Morgan to tell her of the calamity and to solicit her help in finding Ingrid.  Being the 4-½ year old she is, she seemed very unconcerned about the missing giraffe. I was frantically searching everywhere not wanting Svea to suddenly realize that Ingrid was missing. I ran through the little city searching everywhere they had ridden their bikes – no Ingrid!!!! I started eyeing every child at the park (and believe me there were tons of kids there because it was spring break), I was almost in tears!! I started trying to think of a story to tell Svea about Ingrid’s sudden disappearance.  Maybe I could say that she wasn’t feeling well from all the heat and decided she’d meet us at home. (I knew that her mother had the other Ingrid somewhere in the house).  By this time, I was totally exhausted – talk about getting my exercise in!  I was just about to give up but decided to go back one more time to the racetrack where Morgan was riding and Voila – there she was!  Sitting up on a ledge by the racetrack was Ingrid still intact, just getting a little sun.  I grabbed her and ran and found Svea. It’s a wonder that I made it through the day. I managed to get Morgan, Svea and INGRID home reasonably intact. I guess the good news is that I’m sure I lost a few pounds. Later on, after dinner, bath, Storytime and prayers, while talking to my daughter, I found out that there is yet another Ingrid lost at the airport in Austin, Texas and another one somewhere out there in the big bad world living it up. So, Ingrid is actually a QUADRUPLET!!! With that being said, I affectionately ask, 

“Will the real Ingrid please stand up?”