Meet Raffi (part 1)

We will never be able to claim him as a tax deduction, but Raffi is the true third child in our home. Raffi came to us via the zoo gift shop when in a particularly generous moment and the lure of 20% with our zoo membership, I allowed Samuel to pick out a toy for being so helpful with his brother. To my surprise, his souvenir of choice was a little stuffed giraffe. I steered him toward the rubber snakes. No thanks, mom. How about these cool magnifying glasses? Nope! I was afraid this stuffed animal was destined to join the rest of the junk at the bottom of the toy box as soon the newness wore off and he realized that stuffed animals were not all that much fun to play with. How wrong I was!

Throughout the next few weeks, this toy originally known as "my little pet" was Sam's constant companion. Always in his hand or pocket and always next to him at night, he had captured Sam's fancy. I was pleased, but not surprised since it had always been Sam's style to pick a toy and fixate on it for a few weeks at a time. After about 2 months, it was clear that Sam's little pet was here to stay for awhile. We decided he needed a name and asked Sam what he wanted it to be:

"Um...little pet?"
"Little Giraffe?"
"My little pet giraffe...?"

He had no idea, so J suggested Raffi as a joke (as in Giraffi!) and it stuck. Raffi he became. This post has been a long time in coming and in the meantime, I have been chronicling all of the Sam/Raffi adventures intending to have put all this down before. Someday when I get all the pictures together they will have their own book since there is nothing else that has defined Sam's personality this year so well as his relationship with his little buddy.

When Raffi came to stay, Sam started collecting all the other "pets" in the house of similar size and would set them up for bed or an adventure before bed almost every night! This is the night he put them all in their "room"

This night they all went a-sailing...

He also led several parades across the floor of his room, but I can't seem to locate the picture.

Raffi always gets his own pillow whenever possible and S

gets very excited when he finds anything Raffi-sized.

Going for a ride in the firetruck

And leaving on a jet plane

Raffi came everywhere with us. Someday I will go back through all of our picture books and count the number of pictures in which Raffi is unobtrusively held by or near Sam. I would suggest we leave him in the car at the store or on various other outings and the very idea was always met by shock and a suspicious glare. I think he would have turned me into the authorities for negligence for that if he could. So Raffi came along and more than once, when my absent minded four year old would casually set him down somewhere, we would backtrack across town (with, I admit, a little panic in my heart that we might have lost our Raffi) to rescue him. We finally compromised on me keeping him in my purse when we got out of the car, which thankfully satisfied Sam although he would ask to see him or to make sure I still had him three or four times on any given outing.

Sometime around May every year, Sam starts talking about what he wants to be for Halloween. Around July he decided that Raffi needed a costume and that he should be a parrot (have mercy) I don't actually know how I would have handled that one, because thankfully he switched to him being a ghost. Now that I can do!

Both boys start watching the clock around 4, hoping dad will walk in the door soon. Several times, I found Raffi standing sentinel at the front window, left there by Sam to alert him the minute J pulls in the driveway.

As anyone who has been anywhere near Sam in the last year can attest, Raffi shares his opinion via Sam very freely. The phrase "Hey mom, you know what raffi thinks...?" is thrown out frequently. Raffi also has an amazing sense of humor apparently because he knows so many jokes and constantly compels Samuel to share them with all and sundry. This is particularly awesome for me because I get to "laugh" at twice as many four year old jokes. Lately Raffi has been a good bridge between me and S for helping to define what is appropriate funny and what is not. For instance:

S - "Mom, do you know what Raffi thinks is funny? He thinks showing underwear is reeeaaalllyyy funny." (giggle, giggle, snort)

Me - "Uh-oh, did you tell Raffi that underwear is private and we shouldn't show it to people? I bet he doesn't know that."

S - "Oh!? Um, yeah I told him."

Also, back when keeping Thomas in bed all night long was a full time job, I eventually realized that by offering to let Raffi sleep with him, he would stay put since actually getting to hold the elusive giraffe was something Sam wouldn't allow in the daytime. Sam sleeps like rock once he is out and sneaking Raffi away was no problem, and on the rare occasions that he noticed that Raffi had switched allegiences in the night were explained away with an innocent shrug of the shoulders and an "I guess he wanted to sleep by thomas." Of course this was a perfectly natural explanation for one who never questioned that Raffi was real and did whatever he wanted to. Even now, Thomas will wander into our room in the night about once a week and want to climb into bed. I walk him back to his bed and he is still satisfied with Raffi's company as a substitute for mine until he falls back asleep.

Way to be a parenting buffer Raffi!

(to be continued...)