May 14, 2018

White Dog has watched snakey come into the house as a "YoYoMa LOVES this toy and it got left behind when he traveled from California." We searched all over town to find one...and it had to be green...and it had to be waiting when he arrived. Green for the blind boy.

It turned out he was fixated on the bees...and Puff claimed snakey as her own.

Across the passage of years, snakey lost squeakers, eyes, tail segments, but there was never a discussion of replacing snakey.

When Zsofia came to us, our Darkest Big Eared Baby Girl loved the toy and even though it was longer than she was she dragged it everywhere. And she worked to "customize" the length.

One by one segments were gnawed off. Snakey's song was also getting shorter (each segment contained its own unique sounding squeaker). One of Zso's favorite share it games was to bring the green toy over and ask you to "make it sing." If you squeaked in the correct pattern she would take the toy, create a new song and then dance in a circle "kill it dance" of slamming the toy against the floor.

This is snakey today. Many attempts to replace snakey have been made but she has been rescued from the garbage and hidden to protect her. So she endures.

Opal, our current collector and player of toys is a smart, fast learner and has picked up on making snakey sing. She will often bring the partial snake over to me and make it squeak. At the sounds, Zso comes running and stands shifting her weight impatiently. When Opal is done, she carefully puts snakey in the crate.

The moment Opal leaves the room,Zsofia rushes over and "rescues" the singing sensation. She and I must then play together to "make her sing" which causes Opal to return at a trot. Zso carries snakey into the living room where they wait together for morning coffee...and where snakey rests, forgottenas we drink, until Opal quietly lifts her up and carries her back into the bedroom before beginning her post breakfast nap.