Wormy Update

So... I spoke with Mom & Dad (Gramma & Grampa) yesterday, as they fumbled about in the candle-lit dark, thanks to a power outage that the ice storm caused. Among other things, they mentioned that Wormy, Jr. had arrived, but that they didn't think he looked quite like the Wormy we knew and loved so well. We'll see...

So today, I told Leo that Father Christmas thought he might have found his Wormy, and that he'd fixed up the Wormy he'd found and dropped him off at Gramma & Grampa's house. I thought I was being very cautiously subtle; that he wouldn't get the fact that I was trying to avoid the Utter Lie; that he would appreciate the note I was adding without knowing exactly what that note meant. Leo got teary eyed again, though, and sobbed:

"No... It's not going be MY Wormy! WHERE is MY Wormy?! He's not anywhere! He's los' an' I can't find him! Father Kiss-muss didn't find him, too!"

I tried to assure him that I thought it WAS his Wormy, but that he shouldn't be surprised when he saw him, because of the fixin' up and all. He wanted to believe me; he tried to believe me; he gave into the need to believe, at least a little...

Leo needed to cuddle after all of the emotion. And Tomi came in to explain it all to him again (I love it when they do this, as though things are better coming from them than from their parents. Which may be true, after all...) and give him a pat on the shoulder...

p.s. Mark, I haven't yet seen Knuffle Bunny, but I love Mo Willems' Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, so it shouldn't be long...