Stuffed animals and life lessons

Proof that we're still feeling our way through the kindergarten experience without much assistance from the teacher...

Before Spring Break, Sam came home from school and informed me that he is "allowed to take a stuffed animal to school for rest time." Fine. No problem. He decided to take his beloved dog, Deja (named after a Dalmatian we fostered when Sam was two or three years old).

Yesterday, as we were leaving school for the day, Sam says, "Mommy, I have to tell you about something upsetting that happened today."

(Alarm bells ring in my head.)

"OK..."

"When I went to get Deja out of my locker for rest time, she was completely missing."

"Where was she?"

"I have no idea, but by the end of rest time she had reappeared."

"So what did you do for rest time?"

"I put my head down on my desk without her."

"Did you cry when you couldn't find her?"

"Yes."

"What did the teacher do?"

"Nothing."

"Did she see you crying?"

"No."

"So you just put your head down on your desk and cried quietly?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell the teacher that Deja was missing?"

"I didn't have time before we were supposed to put our heads down."

Now, I know I have issues with the teacher. And this time, I shouldn't blame her because it was a substitute teacher overseeing this day. I do blame the regular teacher for indoctrinating my child into a mindset that a schedule leaves no room for human variation...no room for the possibility that shit happens. But that's a whole other story.

The conversation that followed was such that I wondered if another child had "borrowed" Deja without asking Sam's permission. He said he didn't know, though he did make a weird statement that maybe Lucas borrowed her "as a joke."

Prepare for the worst...that's my motto. So I asked Sam how he would feel if somebody took Deja and didn't return her. His sweet innocence peeped through when he said he would "go to their house and get her back." But what if he didn't know who it was?

"Why would somebody do that?"

"Why did someone borrow her today, Samuel."

"I don't know."

I suggested maybe he should take a different stuffed animal to school with him...one that he cares less about...just in case he loses it forever.

"But I care about ALL my animals." (which is absolutely untrue...just ask the three dozen stuffed animals in trash bags in the closet how loved they are...but I wasn't going to make the argument even larger than it already was)

"OK...as long as you understand the risk you're taking. If Deja disappears, there's nothing I will be able to do about it. So it's your choice...but I really think you should leave her safely at home and take a different stuffed animal with you to school...one that you wouldn't be too sad about losing."

He's decided to take Deja anyway and I'm terrified. Keep your fingers crossed.

(Apparently I'm not the only one with these problems.)

This made me laugh out loud.