Hippos on the Loose

Here's some advice I recently learned; the hard way:

Seth is a huge fan of hippos. We sing a song at ECFE about a hippo on a bus and the motions for the song have you hitting your thighs with your hands, kind of like a knee slap gesture. Anyway, this action has become Seth's official sign for "hippo" since he is, as of yet, unable to say it. Knowing that my child loves hippos, I keep my eyes open for them. I recently bought a tube of animals and the other night I pulled out the hippo for Seth. We were having a hard time getting him in the tub and it helped keep things flowing. You moms know how that goes...

When it came time to get out of the tub the hippo stayed locked in his grip. It stayed there through teeth brushing, putting on lotion and pajamas, even reading two books while in the rocking chair. I turned out the light, said our nighttime prayers and starting giving Seth some ideas of where we could put his hippo while he slept. His answer to all of my very well thought out and even creative ideas were whispering, "No mom." I asked him where we should put it, and he motioned to the crib. It was like his way of saying, "It's coming with me mom." I debated mentally and tried another series of ideas on him. Again, "No mom" but getting more adamant this time.

Again, the mental debate. I thought to myself, "Okay, he can take it with him to bed and I'll sneak in here after he falls asleep and take it out. He'll never know." So I gave him the okay, asked for my goodnight kisses and tucked him in under the covers. I got back to my evening duties of cleaning up supper, checking email, folding laundry, etc. mom stuff.

About twenty minutes later I hear screaming from the bedroom. This is not normal. Seth will fuss a bit or talk or even sing, but he never usually sounds this upset. I head for his room and listen at the door. In the midst of his crying he is saying, "Where, where?" and I hear the distinct sounds of his hand slapping the crib mattress. I am still not sure what to think but then I hear the, "help please" in a terrible state of sadness and head in the room.

Well, you guessed it. That two inch hippo is smaller than the crib slats and has flown the coup! Seth points to the head of the crib, through the slats, and wails, "down, down!" I have to pull stuff from under the crib out and search for the terribly lost hippo. What was lost was finally found. I try to calm Seth and give some not so subtle hints about where we should now put the hippo. "NO MOM."

Ten minutes later my now docile son is back in his crib and off to sleep, with his hippo still firmly in his grip. Yeah, I gave in for the second time around. At this point I figure the battle is over right? He's going to fall asleep and forget all about the hippo. What an idiot! If you are a parent of a toddler you know they have good memories. Round two happened before six o'clock the next morning. Jason kindly handled that one and while I put my pillow over my head and vowed to never make the same mistake again. Amazing how an entire family can lose sleep over a two inch hippo on the loose!