Buddy - 1994 to 2003 - RIP
This has been an eventful weekend.
OU stomped Texas, 65 to 13. I didn't watch; OU/Texas is a GREAT day to hit the mall.
OSU beat Kansas State, 38 to 34. The DH was afraid OSU would choke at the end so we didn't have to watch/listen to it.
The GirlChild appears to have lost Buddy.
Buddy has very little which was original. Her legs and arms are covered with colorful material. Her nose is worn from being rubbed with the GirlChild's nose while she tried to go to sleep. I'm hoping Buddy will be found. I don't think the GirlChild needs Buddy anymore to sleep, but I think we may have some tense times over the next few days if she doesn't turn up.
The GirlChild took Buddy with her last night when she went to spend the night with her BFFEIS.*
The BFFEIS is a sweet child in the GirlChild's class at school. I don't really know what her story is. She lives with her Grandparents and her birth mother, who is the daughter of the Grandparents. She calls the Grandparents Mom and Dad and the BM by her name. They have legally adopted the BFFEIS and appear to make all the parental-type decisions concerning the BFFEIS. For instance, if I call to have the BFFEIS spend the night, and the BM answers the phone, she always has me talk to the Grandmother.
I became acquainted with them when the BFFEIS's mother invited us to a Mary Kay party last summer. The M.K. Lady has decided she wants the BFFEIS to be friends with the GirlChild and, as a result, they spend a lot of time together.
There are only 7 girls in the GirlChild's class and I think, of all of them, I prefer the BFFEIS as much as her mother prefers the GirlChild. She's really smart, does what's asked of her, is very articulate, isn't whiney and when she and the GirlChild are together, the GirlChild is much less high maintenance. Since they only live a couple of miles away, it's easy to transport them.
For the last couple of weeks, the GirlChild has been going home with the BFFEIS on Wednesday after school. Monday after school we do Kumon, Tuesday after school we go to Sylvan, Thursday after school we go to KidzClub and Friday, at least this month, they are out of school every Friday but October 31. The BFFEIS's Grandmother (actually her Great Grandmother but I'm trying to be consistent here) has been ill and the BFFEIS has been spending a lot of time here with us while her Mother deals with that.
Since they are best friends, they have spent the night with one another at least one night out of every weekend since school started and some weekends they spend Friday and Saturday night together. There's is a sweet relationship. They wear one another's clothes; the MKL and I are sending clothes, ear rings and shoes back and forth almost every day. They sometimes like the same boy at school, but it doesn't appear to cause any conflict. They seem to hate the same boys at school for the same reasons. They talk, laugh and giggle a lot. They don't seem to fight much, if at all; it's not that one gives in to the other, but more that they work things out without resorting to arguments.
This morning they had a soccer game so we sent the GirlChild's soccer clothes to the BFFEIS's house last night along with Buddy. When they came to the soccer game they didn't bring her bag. It wasn't a problem since we intended to take the BFFEIS to the mall with us this afternoon. When we picked up the BFFEIS and the GirlChild's bag, Buddy was missing. They looked while we waited and said they would look some more. When we dropped off the BFFEIS tonight, Buddy was still missing. The GirlChild didn't cry, but she was visibly upset.
Buddy has gone missing before and has always turned up.
When DH was returning from Tennessee alone with the two week old BoyChild and the GirlChild, Buddy got left in one of the airport stores. Luckily the GirlChild remembered just as they had entered the walkway to the airplane. They turned around and promptly ran into security. This is post 9-11 you know. The DH wasn't going to leave Buddy in the airport and the security guy wasn't going to let the DH and the children back in the airport. While he was fighting with security about finding Buddy, the GirlChild slipped around them, spotted buddy across the way and ran and grabbed her and came back. DH says if they hadn't had the newborn, they would have probably arrested them both.
Whenever we were going somewhere and I was concerned about the GirlChild getting lost or separated from us or the adult she was with, I would give her one of my business cards. I would write all my phone numbers on it. Sometimes I would actually pin it to her clothes with a safety pin. I told her if she ever got separated from her adult, the first thing she should do is find a police officer and tell him "this is my Mommy, I'm lost, will you call her, please." We even practiced it. The GirlChild told me after they returned from Tennessee that we should do that for Buddy so anyone who finds her would know who to call.
We selected a new stuffed animal for the GirlChild to sleep with tonight. She's slept without Buddy before. It was a little sad and she asked me to leave the door open to her room and mine. I did so until we brought the dogs in for bed (the StupidDog sleeps on her bed and the SneakyDog sleeps in a crate her room) but by that time she was sound asleep.
Buddy, 1994 to 2003. RIP
*Best Friend For Ever I Swear for the uninitiated.
10/13/2003 Update
Buddy turned up last night. BFFEIS came over for dinner last night and when we took her home, she was found! I guess like cats, she has nine lives.
