Woobie

It is her oldest friend. Since A2 was a baby, it has been with her. She would rub her face with it as she took her bottle. Catch the drips of milk as it ran down her chin.

Still, it dries her tears and wipes her snot away. It comforts her when she’s scared. It goes to bed with her every night. Is her pillow while she sleeps. Her security when she’s away from home. It goes to school with her and takes a nap with her. Covers her legs in the car if she gets cold.

Since it is so well loved and has been through so much, it gets a bath quite often. (Really when I notice that the light pink color has turned a dingy brown or it smells a little funky).

As we were getting ready for school one day, I was putting her shoes on her I kept catching a whiff of something that smelled like spoiled milk. I smelled her hands and thought I had the culprit. I told her to go wash her hands and off she went. When she came back to finish putting her shoes on, I smelled it again. It wasn’t her hands. I smelled all over her body. Her legs, feet, up her arms. My sniffer was working over time. Her hair, cheeks. It was her face. I got a wipe and scrubbed her face as best I could. We were running out of time. I was going to be late for work. The smell was still lingering. What could it be?

Then I noticed it. Woobie was in her hands. I hadn’t washed that thing in awhile. I snatched it out of her hands and held it up to my nose. Big mistake. She just stood there stunned that I would do such a thing. Ripped from her chubby arms her well loved woobie was slung across the living room as I gagged in disgust. Oh. No. What did I just do? I broke my little girls’ heart. I threw her best friend across the room and declared that it was nasty. She was so hurt. I felt terrible and tried to apologize to her and explain that I would wash it that evening and she would have it to go to bed with. She cried all the way to school and had a melt down when I dropped her off. It didn’t help that I forgot to bring in “lipstick” that morning.

Not only was I feeling bad about how the morning had transpired but then I had to explain to her teachers why she smelled like spoiled milk. Really, I do give my kids baths, she just rubbed the smell from her woobie onto her head. How embarrassing.