Spot's Gone Missing

As we walked throught the red canyons in Torrey, Utah, I looked at Sam and asked, "Who's your dog"?

"Pot". Translation: "Spot". "Doggie", said Sam smiling behind his binkie and holding up Spot.

I was expecting, "Finn", our live family dog who was running wildy around us as we hiked. Nope. Spot is Sam's dog.

Later that night, I listened to Sam as he put himself to sleep by shaking the rattle inside of Spot's head. Little did we know that Spot would go missing less than 24 hours later.

We are down to 2 "Spot's - one for school and one for home. I've searched for extra Spots as I can see the pure love eminating from Sam for this rattle headed stuffed dog/blanket. They are no longer made by Carter's. Once in desperation (both Spot's ended up at school for a weekend), we tried to trick Sam into loving a very similar bear/blanket. He simply prefers Spot. "Bear, Bear" is a very distant 2nd in Sam's eyes.

Our day started with a pancake breakfast in honor of Erin's 6th birthday. Sam put Spot in the syrup so Mike ran to the campground restroom to wash Spot off. We left about 30 minutes later for our first hike of the day in Capital Reef National Park. Sam refused to leave without Spot. Mike and I joked, "A wet spot is better than no spot".

We arrived at our first stop - a small waterfall a short walk from the road. Mike grabbed Sam from the carseat. He put Spot on top of the car, "to dry off". Mike determined that the hot car wouldn't dry Spot sufficiently. The problem is, he neglected to tell any of us that Spot was on top of the car.

As we left the waterfall 45 minutes later, I put Sam back in the carseat unaware that Spot was on top of the car. I simply couldn't see Spot on top of our SUV. We jumped in the car and took off for our next stop - Petroglyphs. I stayed at the car with Finn (our real dog). I chose to spend my time cleaning out the car from the road trip.

Mike arrived back at the car and asked, "Is Spot in the car?"

"No", I said. Certain he wasn't in the car, because I had just spent 15 minutes cleaning it out.

Then he dropped the bomb. "I left Spot on top of the car".

"What!?!" my jaw dropped to the dirt in the parking lot.

"Let's go.", Mike said, "We have to go back right now".

I yelled for Erin and my Mom, "C'mon we have an emergency".

We drove back to the waterfall, eyes glued to the road. We looked everywhere and there was no sign of Spot. "What are we going to do?", I asked Mike in a state of shock.

"I'm going to the visitor center. I'm sure someone just picked up Spot." Mike said. We drove in silence to the visitor center. Tears began to trickle from my eyes. Mike went in and came back empty handed.

As we drove back to our campsite, I proceeded to have a full blown meltdown and was reduced to a blubbering, sobbing mess. Mike tried to cheer me up by letting me know he gave a full description to the Ranger and even let them know he answer's to "Spot". I told him to stop making jokes as we had just lost an integral part of our family. Sam was completely oblivious to the drama unfolding and dozzed off in his carseat.

Mike dropped me, my Mom, and Erin at the camper and said he would be back. He came back 30 minutes later with Sam and "Buddy" a stuffed bear. Whatever he did with Sam in those 30 minutes - it worked. Sam had a much easier time than Mommy without Spot. Miraculously, I only hear him ask for "Pot" a few times on the rest of our trip. He was happily holding "Buddy" on the drive home.

Disaster averted.

I, however, am still wondering, "Where is Spot?"

Blame it on Sam

Excuse me while I reminisce....in order to ensure that this memory doesn't fade, I have to go back to a time when Sam was ~14 weeks and Erin was 4.

......I had only been back to work for a couple of weeks and as anyone with a 14 week knows, they are full of babble. I had just walked in from a long day at work and had Sam laying on Erin's bed, Erin sitting next to him. I was standing over Sam as he babbled away saying, "What is it? What are you trying to tell Mommy? Are you talking to me? What is it?" As a mother nothing is sweeter than a smiling, babbling child responding to your questions. Sam was adorable.

Erin was observing this interaction and suddenly spoke up, "He said you're an idiot". Of course, I looked at Erin and explained why she shouldn't say things like that. It isn't nice, you are a good girl and you know better. That hurts people's feelings when you say words like that.

With her crystal blue eyes glaring at me she calmly said, "I didn't say it, he did". Pointing accusingly at her 14 week old brother.

My first reaction was to laugh which was difficult to hold back. As I stood there staring at my 4 year old, I suddenly realized that perhaps he was calling me an idiot. I was standing over him asking inane questions. Did they have a secret language that wasn't known to me? I did actually look like an idiot with a stupid grin asking questions of a 14 week old...I'll never know if they were communicating. I do know that the questions stopped and I didn't do that again without thinking about my 4 year old and her interpretation.

He Can Talk?

Sam is the master of grunting, whining, and pointing to get what he wants. His little mother, Erin, is very happy to oblige in his efforts not to use words. You can imagine our suprise as we all stood in the kitchen the other night and I asked Sam, "Do you want a fork or a spoon?"

Sam responded clearly in front of Mommy, Daddy, and Erin, "No, I do not want a fork."

With mouths agape the three of us all moved quickly to indulge his first, clear, and concise request.