As many of our readers know, Isabel is quite fond of her stuffed penguin, Peter. She takes Peter everywhere – to school each day, on planes, to the beach, to the grocery store, and on and on. Peter even rides in the car to places where he’s not allowed. Isabel will ask “peter can go in the car, but NOT in the restaurant? He can stay in the car.” She loves that little bird. She loves him so much that despite the fact that he’s a limited edition and quite expensive, we bought 2 additional Peters in case one got lost or needed ‘penguin surgery’.
Our ‘spare Peter’ plan was foiled shortly after moving to New Orleans. In Denver we had a ‘home Peter’ and a ‘school peter’ and the two Peters never met. However, we failed to explain this to her school in New Orleans so about a week after moving, Isabel realized there were two Peters, which she quickly named “Peter” and “Other Peter.” She can get them correctly identified near 100% of the time. I’ve come to realize that Peter has a ‘special wing’ and Other Peter has a wonky eye.
She loves Peter so much that during her first session of camp at the JCC, they had ‘key notes’ about each child written on the white board so the teachers would remember. Things like ‘has a peanut allergy’ or ‘picked up by XYZ on Wednesdays’. Isabel’s note simply said “Isabel – Has a penguin”.
She loves Peter so much that he is in her school picture. Bravo Camera Man, Bravo!
She loves Peter so much that her cousins bought her an Owl Chair…that kind of looked like a penguin. It was quickly designated as a penguin and named ‘Giant Peter.’ It is a favorite sitting location to watch tv or watch connor on the floor.
She loves Peter so much that her classmate – who is a real human being named Peter – is called “Peter Pumpkin Eater.” Cross my heart. When telling a story about human Peter, she will call him Peter Pumpkin Eater so we know who she’s talking about.
She loves Peter so much that Peter got potty trained on the same weekend.
Anyway…you get it. This is one very loved, very cherished, very indispensable stuffed penguin.
Then tragedy strikes! Sometime between picking Isabel up from her classroom and going inside the house, Peter has gone missing! Oh Crap! This is terrible. But… I saw Peter when picking her up and we didn’t make any stops on the way home, so I’m confident that Peter is at school and we will see him in the morning. When I tell Isabel that Peter wanted to sleep at school for one night, she’s a little sad but able to get through it.
The next morning at school (you guessed it), Peter is not in her cubby as expected. (Panic strikes me! WhereTF is Peter!). ‘No Problem,’ I say to Isabel more calmly than I feel, ‘Peter is probably in another kids cubby’. We check every other cubby – no luck. (WHERE IS PETER!) ‘Isabel, I said cubby but I meant that peter is probably in the pillow corner’. Surprise surprise…he’s not there. Slowly and methodically we search everywhere in her class and in the neighboring class. Still no Peter. (I’m freaking out…as calmly as possible).
Isabel is being very helpful and seems to be treating it as if I know where he is and I’m just playing ‘search and find’ like we do at home. She’s super calm and fun and helpful. (Confession: I don’t know where he is.)
Isabel and I walk to each of the three check-in desks at school and see if anyone turned in a stuffed penguin at the Lost and found. No luck, no luck, no luck.
We ask her teachers – all of them. No luck
We ask the director of the program – no luck. She suggests a few things that we’ve already tried.
Now, I’m in full (calm) panic mode. I tell Isabel that Peter is probably hiding at home in one of our bags and she should stay at school and I’ll continue the search at home. She starts crying. Thankfully, I don’t start crying, but rather assure her that we’ll find Peter. She suggests I also check at work…I tell her I’ll check there too.
I drive straight home and search every bag we touched. I search the car for the 10th time. Still no Peter! Jake and I are texting back and forth trying to figure out where he is and what to do next. We are texting her teacher to see if anyone found him. We are both feeling some combination of guilt, anxiety, and loss. It feels like we’ve lost her best friend.
Oddly enough, at one point in the day, Isabel told her teacher that “its okay if Peter doesn’t come back. We will find a new Peter”. Either she is more mature than her parents or she doesn’t realize that forever means forever.
Jake suggests we make “Missing” posters like Peter is a lost dog. I laugh, then realize it’s a great idea.
I make a quick poster, print out 20 copies. I post it on Instagram and tag her school. They reach out to me and SEND AN ALL STAFF EMAIL with the missing poster. That’s right. Isabel is so sweet and they know how much she loves Peter…enough that it warrants an ALL STAFF email at the JCC. Literally, when I enter the building to pick her up in the afternoon people that I’ve never talked to before are asking about Peter. It’s crazy. A true APB for a stuffed animal (I assume this means they like Izzy at the J).
We get some special tape from the director and start putting up our signs. Isabel is very calm and very helpful. She keeps sticking the posters up and pointing to new areas where we should hang them up. I love her. It was really sad, but also really cute.
We head off to gymnastics with a hole where Peter should be, but…on the drive we get a FaceTime call from Daddy. Confused, I answer it at a stop light and what do I see?? PETER!! He made his way home. I showed Isabel the phone and she erupts with happiness! It was amazing to witness. She had come to terms with losing him (faster than dad and daddy) and when that changes she couldn’t help but burst out in a happy scream! It filled my heart with happiness.
Turns out, Peter had an unsanctioned sleepover with the neighbors dog. Isabel must have dropped him getting out of the car or when saying hi to the neighbors and Cozy must have scooped him up and put him with his other toys. We told Isabel and now when you ask about Peter she said that “he had a sleepover at Cozy’s house”. When we got home, she ran up into the house and gave him a huge hug and raised him up in celebration.
Not willing to go through this emotional roller coaster again, Daddy signed Peter up for an elective surgery. He had a Tile Tracking Device implanted this evening so we’d know where he was from now on.
Love you Peter!
