Reginald and Elder Gutnickt
This is another story about J. Sorry that I do them so frequently, but truthfully, there is a lot that I don’t write about here — not because it is bad or something, but just because it would be too hard to sum up. Not this. This gives you a little window into the life I lead as the mom of J.

J has a stuffed snake that he has loved, LOVED for years. His name is Reginald. Reginald often comes with us when we go places (usually he waits in the van for us) and he also talks to me from the backseat. “Oh J’s Mom,” Reginald will call out, “don’t you think we should get Slurpees today?” And then I talk back to Reginald and give him my opinion about Slurpees or whatever. We have these conversations frequently. Reginald is a well-spoken snake. Occasionally he will try to hypnotize me into getting J a Coke, but I never fall for it.

Well. Recently, a large red stuffed snake was donated to the children’s room at our local library. Turns out, it looks exactly like Reginald, except that it is red, brand new, and is huge. Reginald has even visited the library to see this new snake. After we visited the snake for the first time, J informed me that the name of this larger red snake is Elder Gutnickt. I guess that Reginald told J what the name of the other snake was.

Okay.

Now, when we go to the library, if there are no other children in the room, I let J play with Elder Gutnickt. He loves it. In fact, we went there today to see Elder. And all was going well until J wiggled around by the librarian and Elder playfully sort of flicked the librarian on her shoulder with his tail.

Did you know that there are people who are petrified of stuffed snakes?

Did you know that sometimes these people are librarians in the children’s room of the library?

It’s true. And I nearly fell off my chair trying not to laugh.
The old abs are going to be sore tomorrow, let me tell you.