A Tale of Four Shadows

Shadow is my parents' dog. She is a black poodle.

Back in February 2008, Emma and I were visiting my parents in Michigan. While there, my grandparents sent Emma a stuffed polar bear for Valentine's Day.

Perhaps because we were visiting my parents and Shadow at the time, Emma soon began calling the polar bear "Shadow." She loved it and carried it everywhere, and for the first time she had a "lovey" to comfort her. I of course told this story to my grandmother, expressing our appreciation and love for polar-bear-Shadow. My grandmother, however, didn't think that polar-bear-Shadow was good enough. She soon sent a stuffed black poodle.

Emma was over the moon. She loved her new Shadow and slept with it every night. She even treats Shadow like her child, acting out the things we do with her on Shadow. She'll tickle him, tuck him into bed, feed him fruit snacks. Shadow can even do the gymnastics moves that Emma can do. While the new Shadow was clearly the favorite, she did not forget polar-bear-shadow. The polar bear was christened "white Shadow," while the new Shadow became "black Shadow." (The actual Shadow is known as "real Shadow.") Life was good and we loved having our two Shadows at home. Then this past Christmas, Emma opened a gift from Mumma (my grandma), and received these:

Those are beanie baby versions of white Shadow and black Shadow. Or, as they are known at our house, baby white Shadow and baby black Shadow.

We're so lucky to have a Mumma who provides us with all of our Shadow needs--a Mumma who truly cares about the passions of a two-year-old.