Fickle is as Fickle does?

Today, we mourn the loss of a very special doggy.  He never barked, never begged, never whined and always obeyed.  He was best buddy, co-conspirator, sleepy time pal and just an all around great dog to his owner Adrian Thomas since September 2009.

Good- bye Froggy Doggy.  You will be missed.

Yes, that's right friends.  I had to deal with my son's first loss today.  Mind you it was only a stuffed animal, not the real thing.  But this was a very special stuffed animal and if you haven't read my previous posts, he was one of my son's beloved "comfy" items.

As I came down the stairs from putting my youngest down for his morning snooze I saw a very somber sight.  My 3 year old boy, standing at the bottom of the stairs, big blue eyes bright with tears, holding up Froggy Doggy.

Well, what was left of Froggy Doggy.

My heart sank into my knees and I felt a little bit sick to my stomach.  I'm sure it was nothing compared to the heart break my son felt when he found him....with no face.

I immediately knelt down to give my son the biggest hug ever as he wept, big fat tears rolling down his sweet face, crying into my neck, "Riley ate Froggy Doggy!  Bad Riley, bad Riii--lll--ey!!!"

What's a Mom supposed to do?  Of-course I comforted him, held him close and murmured words of consolation.  I brought him his yellow cozy and Lamby (his other comfy items) as requested.  I didn't want to immediately go into saying "It's okay, we can get you another Froggy Doggy".  I always feel the need to validate his feelings when he's this upset.  I know I would hate it if someone kept telling me "It's okay, it's okay" when, clearly,  it's NOT okay.

A few minutes go by and he's calmed down.  He looks at me, his sad, blue eyes still wet with tears and says "You need to buy me another doggy Mummy.  With black and white spots.  Okay?"  I nod sympathetically, of course.

Well, that was easy.  Off he goes flying around like Iron Man, jumping on and off furniture as the remains of Froggy Doggy's face lie there in the middle of the carpet.  Pathetic eyeballs peering creepily at the ceiling.

I take a deep breath, put Riley outside for a few minutes as her "punishment", and clean up the remaining bits of Froggy Doggy's face and fluff.

The day goes by and I kept waiting for Adrian to say he missed Froggy Doggy or something...but alas, the name was never mentioned.  It niggled at the back of my mind a little bit.  Surely, he must be more upset than he's showing.

Night time rolls around and I thought,  'Okay, brace yourself January, it might be a tough one tonight.'  So after his teeth were brushed, pj's were on and books were read, he climbs into bed....I wait for the dreaded question, maybe he's forgotten...

Nothing.

As I'm tucking him in, I deliberately take Lamby and snuggle it in close to him and say "Here sweetie, here's Lamby".  I wait for the watershed of tears.

Nothing.

Then I thought, why is this bothering me so much that he seemed to get over the loss of a very dear, very special comfy item so easily???  I should be relieved right?

Wrong.  I figured out why it's been niggling at me.

He's fickle.  That's it!  That's why it's bothering me.  My 3 year old son is as fickle as the weather in March.

All of these thoughts whoosh into my mind... does this mean he's going to be fickle of the heart then too?   Is that better or worse than John and me having to deal with his broken heart???  Or is this foreshadowing the trail of girls broken hearts that will be left at our front door on a regular basis???  I hope my husband and I can raise him better than that...you know, have respect for women, treat them nicely, be a gentleman.  I want to teach my sons that chivalry is not dead!

Of-course I know I'm going off on a tangent and being completely melodramatic about the whole thing.  I know I'm reading way too much into the situation as Mothers do best.

*sigh*

That's fine if he's fickle I suppose.  I can deal with that as long as there's one woman his heart is never fickle about.

His Mumma.

Oh please Lord.  Let that be true.