I managed to get her into the bathroom for heave #3, but not before heave #2 ran down my shirt and onto the kitchen floor — duh! the kitchen sink was right there…

After getting everything cleaned up, we tried getting her some water, but, it came right back up too.  Poor girl just wanted some pancakes and we weren’t about to do that till her tummy had settled.  Valerie made her a nice cozy “bed” on the couch and I put on Wallace and Gromit.

As she settled onto the couch, she looked up at us with her big blue eyes, and in a sad, dejected, why didn’t I get any pancakes voice, “I want Moosey”.

Ummm, problem — the moose that didn’t make a very good cork is covered in grape skins.  Those sad eyes, they can’t be denied for the time it’s going to take to clean and dry Moosey.

Execute plan: Backup Moosey!

We laid it on thick that Moosey had a really good bath and he’s all clean and shiny now as we gave her the backup Moosey that had been sitting in the closet for the last year, ready for the day when Maia’s lovey (that she hasn’t slept without since the day they met) went missing.  And, while Moosey #1 hadn’t officially gone MIA, it was decided that she needed the comfort of her pal.

Moosey #1 has been well loved for the last 1.5 years and his/her (depends on the day) fur is well matted.  Maia took one look at the fluffy, shiny moose we presented her, and then looked at us, and then felt Moosey #2′s tail, and then looked at us again with disdain.  She was wise to the ruse.

“I don’t want fuzzy Moosey” as she begrudgingly picked up the new moose and held it and watched the clay-mation. This just might work.

I checked back on her a bit later and she asked for pancakes for the 30th time, and after being rejected again she pouts and says, “I don’t want fuzzy Moosey”, and throws the inferior moose on the floor.

While we could always revert back to Moosey #1, I know that’s going to be a bad idea; it firmly commits us to Mosey #1 and there’d really be no way we could attempt the swap to Moosey #2 again if we really needed to. Yeah, she’d probably get over it, but, why set the precedence now?

After the show was over and she slowly got some bits of pancakes, it was nap time and she grabbed the fuzzy moose and climbed the ladder to her bunk bed and quietly fell asleep with her arm around new Moosey.

Time will tell if she continues to ask for Moosey #1.

And, just for the record, Maia, when the day comes that you read this — remember, we only carry on such deceptions because we love you!

She then proceeded to list all the folks in her life that could play with her. Her last statement went like this:

“Pig and Sheep aren’t here…just Maia and mommy and daddy and Moosey and Sisters and my babies and square and ALL MY FRIENDS.”

That’s a good list of people to have around. I’m just glad she knows it.

She’s got quite amazing balance and just steps right into the boots. Then she picks up Moosey and says, “Let’s go to the Circus Moosey”.

And after looking forlorn for a few seconds that the pretend circus just wasn’t really all that fun, off came the boots.

And then, she was sad.

Valerie: What about Moosey?

Maia: Ummmm…no. She’s just a moose.