The Prodigal Patrick

Last December, we traveled home to New England for the holidays. While we waited to board our plane at Burbank Airport, Jakob purchased a Patrick Star doll for Cooper.

Patrick hung out with us during all the festive Christmas and New Year activities. Then, when we returned to California, he was gone. We looked high and low. Alas, no fuzzy, pink starfish in green shorts was to be found. We purchased a second Patrick doll for Cooper to love.

Fast forward to last Friday. It was finally chilly enough for me to dig around the closet for my winter faux fur diva coat. I slipped it on and felt a strange bump in the side pocket. Oh my! PATRICK!



Now there's two Patricks!

I wonder what the past year has been like for Patrick #1. Was he stuck in that dark pocket the entire time? Was he waiting and praying that someone would find him and rescue him? Or did he sneak off and have wild adventures? Did he return merely because he ran out of money? Perhaps he's going to convince Patrick #2 to accompany him on his next journey.

To Cooper, two Patricks are better than one. He holds them both in his hands and tosses them around. Then he realizes that he likes playing with stuff that makes noise and he throws his Patricks to the ground and goes to play his piano, or his xylophone, or his Elmo Camera, or his talking Leap Frog phone, or his singing Animal Train.

Note to self (and grandparents): Cooper has PLENTY of toys.