Bye, Bye Ralphie!

Goodness. I just wrote about Ralphie, Ethan’s beloved giraffe security blanket and now he is missing. He sure did love that thing.

Does anyone remember how I sadly lost Carter? That was Ethan’s other beloved stuffed animal and I felt so terrible that I allowed him to be gone. However, Carter was quickly replaced with Ralphie and Ethan never looked back. In fact, he had more love for Ralphie than he ever had for Carter.

Well, just yesterday, Ralphie went missing. I was at a gas station right down the street from home and Ethan was sitting in the back seat snuggling with his friend. While I was filling the tank, I opened Ethan’s door so that he could have some air. At some point, Ethan must have thrown Ralphie out of the car and onto the pavement. I didn’t notice that it was missing until a few hours later. At that point, I called Garrett and told him to scour the town. He went back to that gas station and searched the entire area. He talked to witnesses, put our name and phone number at the front desk, and he even went so far as to search the trash cans. No luck.

I went to two different Targets, which is where Ralphie was originally purchased. He was nowhere to be seen, so I picked up an imposter. I bought a frog head on a blanket that sort of resembles Ralphie. It has the same types of colors. I slipped it into Ethan’s hands and he was disgusted. He picked up the frog with two hesitant fingers and quickly tossed it onto the floor. So, that didn’t go over so well.

We searched on Ebay for a Ralphie replacement and we found several. However, they are selling for upwards of $50! Are you kidding me?! We finally found one for $20 after much searching and we ordered it. Ralphie Part Deux should be hear in 7-10 days. In the meantime, the frog blanket is named Frankie and we are telling Ethan that he is Ralphie’s cousin. They are both Italian, apparently.

Once Ralphie Part Deux gets here, we will absolutely be ordering another one off Ebay so that we don’t have to deal with this again.

Lesson Learned: If your child has an attachment to a toy, buy two or three or ten NOW! Do it before you have to order it on Ebay for a 500% markup.

Another Lesson Learned: If you have your minivan door open to let in fresh air, check the ground before you close it. There could be valuable items on the ground.

Final Lesson Learned: If you ever find a toy laying on the grounds of a shopping center, please turn it into the front desk. There is probably a family searching for it desperately.

Here are a few memorial pictures of Ralphie (by the way, if any of you have a Ralphie that you are willing to part with, I will pay you the going rate… seriously)

Here is Ethan holding Ralphie, while looking at this friend Allison: