“Two Monkey”

Not even certain when “two monkey” arrived. I do know he replaced “Silly Monkey’ a blue and brown monkey Jude had snuggled from birth of similar shape and size. Silly Monkey was lost somewhere along the way and fortunately we had the sock monkey ready to stand in.
It was a seamless transition at one year old.
But, as time passed, sock monkey (who was never called sock monkey) became his snuggle choice at every nap, watching movies or just cuddled up on the floor during reading time.
Grandmothers have a way of knowing this could develop into a problem should Monkey suddenly disappear. There have been several times he was left behind and Dad had to make a special trip to recover him before bedtime.
In an effort to avert this difficult situation I purchased several sock monkeys from the toy store and hid them away. And, of course, the day came when it was necessary for us to pull one out.
But, this intuitive toddler immediately knew the difference asking, “Where is two-monkey?” None of us really know how the name Two-Monkey came to be. When I asked Jude how he could tell the difference he said, “This one doesn’t have the same face, my two monkey has a big smile.”
Life lesson, it is not possible to attempt to pull a fast one on a toddler who is in love with his lovie.