Replacing a favorite stuffed animal

I cringe as I read an email from a friend saying that her little boy has left his favorite stuffed frog behind while on vacation. It is gone. It is gone for good. She was smart. She had a backup frog.

I remember the day I realized I needed a backup duck. My daughter had become very attached to pink duck that she had received for Easter. He was quickly named daddy duck as most one year old children don't exactly understand the gender color thing. Her brother had also received the same duck in blue, but showed way less interest so, in all of her complete empathy for the blue duck's plight, she decided to adopt him and have twins, hence mommy duck.

Now the twins have seen their day. They have been washed, dried, repaired, repaired, repaired again and finally the legs began to shred. They are the sorriest looking pair of twins I have ever seen. It became terribly obvious that an internet search for the same pair of ducks would have to begin. I assumed it would be easy since they were cheap little superstore ducks and I had the name and product number. NO SIR E BOB it was not easy at all! I think I would have had better luck hiring out Yukon Cornelious to give me a ride to the island of misfit toys. I managed to find one site hosted by a group of shysters who buy toys knowing that a child may grow to love them and then extort parents a few years later for massive amounts of money. I was NOT going to pay $70.00 for a $10.00 duck. NEVER...well, unless I couldn't figure something else out.

The search continued. Finally, one day I decided to take my daughter shopping with me. I explained that we were going to buy two new special animals to carry around. We would have to put the ducks on the shelf. There on the shelf she could watch them, check on them, and sing them to sleep, but not play with them. I assume it would be more traumatic to have them shred in her hands.

We walked into the store of choice and like a beam of greatness from the heavens shining down in the form of unflattering fluorescent lights they stood. Two bunnies. They were made of the same material as the ducks, eerily similar in color, and they were approximately the same size.

"We will call them duck bunnies" she said.

As a matter of fact, she calls the pink one mama duck bunny and the blue one daddy duck bunny. The transition could not have gone smoother. Finally, no more gender confused animals and the ducks can rest knowing they will still have legs in the morning. I love a happy ending.