Tobey: Poor Rainbow

Tobey has always had an attachment to stuffed animals. First it was Adrian ("Monk"ey), then Bobocat, then Ducky, then Penguin, then Little Turtle, then Rainbow. He'd sleep with the animal of choice, almost crying if he didn't have them by bedtime. He'd want to take them on outings but we'd usually say they have to stay home or in the car because we couldn't stand the horror that would occur if he ever lost them outside. Actually all of them were lost except for Adrian, but for some of them, Tobey moved on emotionally to the next animal before it got lost.

I feel like Rainbow the Chameleon has stuck around the longest, around a year since Tobey got him as a Christmas gift from his preschool teacher. But with the recent reappearance of his NASA bear (which he never latched onto since last year, despite his space interest), Tobey has taken to Astrobear. When Tobey chose to take Astrobear instead of Rainbow to Pittsburgh, he cited the reason, "because Rainbow is too small and is harder to find." That made sense, especially since Astrobear is bigger and has a bright orange space suit.

But just tonight Tobey was gathering his usual animals to go up to bed. And I heard him just nonchalantly say, "Rainbow is going to sleep in the basement tonight" as he marched upstairs with Astrobear. And I don't know why, I guess I take the emotional ride with Tobey with these stuffed animals, but I feel sorry for Rainbow, sleeping in the basement all by himself while a new animal gets the #1 spot in Tobey's bed. I had emotional attachments to my stuffed animals too. I don't know what my parents did with most of them after I left for school. And maybe I don't want to know.

It's so very Toy Story. And if you didn't cry during Shania Twain's "She Loved Me" in TS2, you are heartless.

Then again, for some reason, the 60 degrees down in the basement definitely feels warmer than the 64 degrees in the rest of the house. So maybe Rainbow still has the best deal of all. At least that's what I say to make me feel better.