Our Big Secret

Spot is Z's favorite stuffed animal, the one she sleeps with every night, the first one whose name she learned (we named him for her, and she adapted it to "Pa" until she learned how to pronounce it). He was a gift to her when she turned one year old. He's one of the "Kohl's Cares" series of stuffed animals drawn from children's books, and is supposed to be the animal with magical spots in Robert Lopshire's Put Me In The Zoo. The gift came without the book, so when we introduced her to the story a year or so later, she was thrilled to see that her best friend had a book deal.

Spot has a secret. He has a twin.

Z had other stuffed animals already, and none of them had really stuck. When it was clear that Spot was her first love, Jenni had the brilliant idea of getting a "backup" in case Spot was lost, destroyed, or irreparably harmed. We looked him up on eBay and were shocked to see that people were selling him for $20 or $30 a pop because he was a "limited-edition" stuffed animal. But Jenni watched eBay for a few months and a deal came up. Someone who was unloading a lot of junk from their lives had posted one with a "Buy It Now" price of $5. We bought it, so to speak, on the spot.

So there are two Spots in our house, and Z is, so far, completely clueless. We have had a couple of random sit-com moments where we have almost been caught - you know those episodes where two people keep almost being in the room at the same time? For now, our little trick means that if Spot is left at someone else's house, he can reappear again without much worry. If Spot is vomited upon, he can be replaced while we figure out how to clean him up. We actually switch Spots every few months so that they sustain about the same level of wear and tear.

We will probably be caught someday, but it just feels so right. The biggest challenge is making sure that we don't violate the laws of physics as she understands them, an ever-increasing limiter on our behavior...