Every few days, when I put Luke to bed, he wants to hear the "DiDi Story". I thought I would put it here so he always has it :)
Luke,
When you were still in Momma's belly, her friend Tiffany gave you a horsey and he waited in your room until you were born. One night you were so upset, Daddy went to get you a stuffed animal to hold and it happened to be the horsey. You loved that horsey. You took him everywhere-- to the park, to dinner, on road trips, to friend's houses. You LOVED that horsey. You named him Didi when you could finally talk (Didi is how you said "Horsey"). You got so attached, you slept with Didi and when you were upset you would suck on his tag instead of a pacifier. You sucked on his tag so much, that he eventually got stinky. I would try to bleach his bottom and then wash him but you would get so upset that hour without your Didi. One day, Granna was visiting and she said "Lets just get Luke another Didi to rotate out when one is being washed". Granna was BRILLIANT! She had to look all the way in London, England to find another Did just like the first, she mailed it to us and it was infact THE SAME! (just fluffier). We introduced you as if it was the old one, you looked it over with a puzzled look on your face, turned it over to find the tag, took a little suck, and BINGO! We had our Didi substitute. This worked great for awhile. I would keep the alternate Didi up on a shelf in the laundry room and switch out when we needed to. But, one day, you saw the extra Didi and wanted me to get it down. I did, and at that moment you realized there were two Didis, so then you would never give one up. Sigh. You loved both Didis, took care of them, hugged them, slept with them, sucked on them. (this next part, I leave out of story time, but by the time you are reading this, I think you will be able to handle it) When you turned two, Daddy and I thought we would test out cutting the tag off of a Didi. Although you were cute sucking on your Didi, we didn't want it to rock on forever. When he went in the wash one day-- (you always help me throw Didi in the "bath"), I snuck back in and cut the tag off then put it in the laundry bag with Didi. When you helped me get Didi out, you got SOOOO upset that Didi's tag fell off. It was traumatic. So, you clung tightly to the other one. When you were almost 3, you were sucking on your last Didi's tag in bed as I was reading you a story. The tag was only hanging by a thread, so we knew to be watching for it's demise too. The tag fell off in your mouth and you cried and cried and cried. I almost cried with you. I tried to talk you through the fact that it was the same Didi and we could still love him, but you cried yourself to sleep blaming yourself that you sucked the tag too hard and it fell off. The next night, you worked it out and sucked on the nubben. You are 3.5 now and you still sleep with your Didis and they still comfort you when you are upset, but you don't take them with you places anymore. You did tell us awhile back that there is a Girl Didi and a Boy Didi. We thought that was silly, but we would hand you one and you would insist "That is not the Girl Didi." One day, Daddy figured out that you knew which one was which by their markings. The girl Didi has a more brown face and the Boy Didi has a whiter face. You can tell which is which by looking at their backs too, but we don't know how you do that! You only suck on the girl Didi now. I think you will always love your Didis and they will always have a special place in our family's heart!
