Sunday, November 06, 2005

Seymour.... Sweet Memory

SeymoreA couple weeks back we dug out the infant activity gym (colorful blanket on the floor with dangly things above it) that we had purchased three years ago when Andrew was a newborn. Abi is beginning to notice her world and it was time to start stimulating her during awake times. When we pulled the toys out and put them on, the little seahorse that originally came with the gym was missing. We had always loved that little green seahorse with his pretty song. MG named him Seymour over that first Christmas after Andrew's birth. Don and I even made up a little song with his name over time.

I thought he'd gotten tossed because, by the time Andrew was mobile, he'd taken a shine to Seymour and kept his tail in his mouth all of the time. I remembered the little green guy being stained before finally disappearing during toddlerhood. So I assumed we'd just pitched him since his electronic noise maker was sewn in.

I was mopey about him being gone every time it crossed my mind over the last two weeks . But when I retrieved another bag of infant toys from the attic yesterday, there, in the bottom of the bag, was Seymour. He was mostly brown and icky, but just as happy to see me as I was him.

He sang his song for me, so pretty and just as loud as three years ago. I almost cried. I told Don we should just pitch him, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. Very delicately, I performed surgery on Seymour's striped belly to remove the music maker and pinned it back up so the stuffing would not come out during cleaning. I soaked him in Oxyclean for several hours then Don tossed him into a load of clothes he was washing late last night.

When I awoke this morning and made my way into the kitchen to warm a bottle for Abi, there he was. Don had laid Seymour on the granite kitchen island. He was bright and clean and green once more. Just a while ago, I sewed his music maker back into his striped belly and hung him up on the activity gym.

He's dangling there now. Waiting for Abi to notice him and fall in love. Just like the rest of the family has. I'm so glad to see our little friend. And so happy that he will be a part of Abi's childhood like he was for Andrew.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you found Seymour. Those little finds are so bittersweet. I hope Abi falls in love with him! I'm glad that all your children will have him as a part of their lives in some way.

Melissa

Margie (and Fae) said...

Yay Seymour! Glad he's back where he belongs!