It's Little Moments Like These...

So... we realised tonight that Wormy* was gone for good. Which made for a very sad bedtime, indeed. Leo was unconsolable; Tomi was squirmy, not quite sure how to show his feelings; Mommy and Papa were not quite sure how to proceed, except to keep looking and hoping and offering consolation...

June 2006 - Image With Wormy

And then (and please remember that I'd done such a search some months back, when it seemed as though we'd lost the little guy, and come up with fifty times nothing), what to my wondering eyes?! I FOUND IT! On Amazon. I squealed, "JEAN-PHILIPPE! LOOK!" And suddenly, two little boys were streaking out of their beds to see what I'd found. But it was, "Out! Back! Get back to bed!" with them, and then: click! click! pay! send!

And after this, a tiny, sad little voice from the boys' room, "I want a song!" It was Tomi, who could hear me singing, "You are never alone..." This is his favourite song, ever since he heard me singing it one morning, and came in with a curious expression on his face, asking, "It's from where, that song?" I said it was Vic Chesnutt's, and he said, "But it's from where?" After a bit of gesturing, eventually towards the stereo, I realised that he was asking which CD it came from. He liked the (Vic) Chesnutt idea, but he wanted to hear it. So I put it on, and we danced and sang and I tell yeh... he's goo-ood!

Anyway, he wanted a song tonight. So I got the guitar out, sat down, and started playing a little accoustic ditty I've been working on, despite Tomi's protests (because it wasn't The Song. But I don't yet know how to play it, and anyway, it was pretty clear that the tyke wouldn't last the song out, regardless which song it was). And very soon, there was silence from his side of the room... And so... After a while, I started winding up my wee work in progress. And when I was done, Leo stopped fiddling with his little Transformer, sighed, and said, "That was very beautiful!"

And the point of this story is not that it was or that it wasn't. It's that it's little moments like these...

And this: I thanked Leo for his kind kind words, gave him a kiss, and suggested the following scenario to him...

"I'm going to write a little letter to Father Christmas tonight, and ask him to keep an eye out for Wormy as he does his nightly rounds of the world's post office boxes. Because you know, Father Christmas sees lots of things that we don't see, and sometimes he finds a missing toy, and sometimes he even has time to fix the toy up a little, make it look like new!"

Leo: Oh-ho-ho-ho! Me: And so maybe he can put the little stuffing-balls back in...  Leo: ALL of them! The LOTS of them that fell out! Me: Yes, ALL of them, even! ...and even maybe sew up the holes from which the balls were falling out!  Leo: OH! Ye-e-e-es! Me: And then he could wash him up and maybe even put some new antennae on him!  Leo: And he could put new colours on him, too! Me: What a good idea! He was missing alot of his colours, wasn't he? Leo: Yeah, but Father Christmas has new colours an' he puts them on an' Wormy will be beautiful! An'...

And suddenly, his lip began to quiver, his eyes began to well up, and he sunk back into his pillow, wailing, "But I want my SAME Wormy!"

I did my best to reassure him that it would be the same Wormy, only with a make-over. I think he believed me. Sort of. But you know... I also think he didn't. But that he appreciated the effort.

We shall see, when he and found-and-repaired-by-Father-Christmas-Wormy meet up at Gamma-Gampa's house... In nine days!

Ya-a-a-a-a-ay!

* For those who missed the earlier episodes: Wormy and Eddie Lizard were gifts from our friends, Ina and Jerry, on the boys' first birthday. After a throne-sharing period of several months, Wormy eventually usurped the throne that (Aunt Peg's) Goo-Goo (Bear) had occupied, and became King Wormy in Leo's Little Guy World. He has occupied this position ever since, though Goo-Goo retains a special place in Leo's heart that is especially apparent when Wormy goes missing.