After looking at her, I had to acknowledge that I did indeed know where Stella came from. Then Maia pipes up, “Mom, where did I come from?”

What to do? My mind raced as I wondered how much I should tell her, should I start the where babies come from subject? Should I brush it off? I blurted out in a moment of frivolity “Oh Maia, you came from the pumpkin patch!”

She looked at me. And looked at me again. “Mom, you’re being silly. I came from the living room!”

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!