Sometimes, I'm such a child. I know this, I accept this, and I even embrace it. I think one of the saddest things that happens to most people, as they get older, is that they forget how to play. I refuse to be one of them.
Last summer, we went to the zoo. By we, I mean myself, Joe, mom, and all three of the kids. I can't remember where Tessa and Jody were, but I remember that they had asked me to watch the kids, and we decided to make an adventure out of it.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, and so when I say "zoo," a lot of the time, I'm talking about Northwest Trek. It's this wonderful place where animals native to this area are allowed to roam as free as they possibly can in a "zoo" setting. They have everything from bison, to pygmy rabbits. And it's amazing how they are kept, in such a natural setting. It's possibly the only zoo I've been to that doesn't make me sad.
It was a great day, the kids were darn near perfect, we laughed, we played, some of us even napped on the tram. Then, at the end of the day, Tia and Uncle Joe were going to be Big Spenders at the gift shop. Everyone got to pick whatever they wanted, mom and baby included. I was quite pleased when Sid instantly chose a plastic lizard under a dollar. The kids took forever to pick, but it was fun to watch. I hadn't really planned on getting anything, but sitting on a shelf with a bunch of other stuffed animals, was Baby Elkhart. He instantly captured my heart with his ridiculously floppy legs, and the real-feeling velvet of his antlers. I grabbed him up, and brought him to my chest in a little hug, because we both knew he was home.
I know, I know. He is an inanimate object. I understand that. I'm not off my rocker. I'm just a kid sometimes. And with Baby Elkhart, it was love at first sight, as only a child can have with a stuffed animal.
And so he was mine.
A lot of the time, I buy myself toys, only to quickly lose interest in them, and hand them over to the kids. But every once in a while, one becomes special. Baby Elkhart had too much personality to be handed over too quickly. Soon after the zoo adventure, we had the camping adventure.
Every year, everyone in my little immediate family (Joe, mom, Tess, Jody, all three kids), pack it all up for a week, and go to Cannon Beach, Oregon to camp. It's fun, and drives us all crazy at the same time. But the kids love it, and even under all the grumbling, all of us grown ups still save a week's vacation time to attend.
Last year, because Jody had changed jobs, he didn't have any vacation time available, so he couldn't go. Sid was still very young, and so Tessa decided that they would stay home, and it was just going to be myself, Joe, mom and the two older kids. We weren't disappointed, in fact, we were a little excited to see how our smaller group would affect the dynamics of the trip. Especially since we could all ride down to Oregon in the same vehicle together. Oh joy! Anyone who has ever taken a road trip with a seven year old and a four year old can imagine what we were in for.
We planned. I packed an activity bag, and at the last second, I scooped up Baby Elkhart and threw him into the bag. The trip down there is now the stuff that legends are made of.
It was discovered less than a half hour into our trip, that Baby Elkhart can only sing-speak. Now, I don't know if there is a technical term for that, but it basically means that Baby Elkhart says even the simplest things, like, "No, I don't want any water," in a singing voice. And it's not the greatest singing voice. Everyone was in stitches. It's hard to explain, I guess you had to be there, but Baby Elkhart is now a minor celebrity in our circles.
Stella was the most amused. There is nothing I love more than making my baby dill get the belly chuckles. You know that kind of laughing that seems to start in your toes, and ends up centered in your belly, and makes you have to hold your sides. You know, as you're laughing, that your ribs will be sore later, but you don't care, because there isn't any joy like that kind of laughing. And the baby dill laughed like that all the way down there. We were laughing until we were crying.
Also discovered, were some of Baby Elkhart's major personality traits. He's an arrogant little thing, and his favorite thing to sing is his own name. He announces himself constantly, in a little tune he made up himself, that Stella hummed for weeks afterwards. He is a little smart ass too, constantly knowing just the right little thing to say to make someone laugh. He's the master of all he surveys, and has to be the boss of all situations. We found though, that he was easily fooled into thinking he was in charge. That was fun too.
Needless to say, once we arrived at Cannon Beach, the fun didn't stop. One night, Baby Elkhart even read, I mean sang the bedtime story. More hilarity ensued, and believe me, it took at least another hour to calm down after that one. It was decided that if Baby Elkhart was to read another bedtime story, we'd start getting ready for bed a lot earlier.
A week after the trip, my sister told my mom, "I need to meet this damn Baby Elkhart. I've never even SEEN him, and I can't stop singing that stupid song!" I was tickled in all kinds of ways to hear that story. That was a year ago, and still, most times that I see the kids, they ask about Baby Elkhart. I even brought him with me for New Year's Eve, and Stella demanded a portrait with him.
I decided at one point, that Baby Elkhart needed a comrade. There was a website listed on his tag (which, by the way, is also where his name came from), and so I went there. I was so excited to see how many different friends he had to choose from! I had my heart set on Rocky, the white mountain goat. But then, to my horror, I found out that for some reason, this company has a policy against selling things online, and will only sell to vendors. I almost cried. One day, Baby Elkhart WILL have a friend though, if it's the last thing I do.
And that, in a very long entry, is The Legend of Baby Elkhart. I'm sure you'll read about him again.
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n she pressed it, and ran her finger over it, just as her brother had a million times, and looked up at me with those gorgeous brown eyes, I said what came natural. "It says Tia Loves Stella." She smiled, and instead of nodding, looked to her big brother for confirmation. He nodded solemnly, confirming my answer, and said, "Yep, Sister, that says Tia Loves Stella."