Our Own Little Linus

I'd like to introduce you to the 5th member of our family: a fuzzy blue blanket that Ethan has named "Bear" (because he used to be attached to a teddy bear, then transferred his affections to this blanket without bothering to change the name). Bear was sewn by a friend of ours and, ironically enough, was intended as a baby gift for Luke. While Ethan would prefer Bear be present for ALL activities, Bear's presence is an absolute necessity for Ethan to go to sleep. Yesterday Will attempted to put Ethan to bed without Bear and we instantly heard his frantic demand over the monitor, "WHERE BEAR?!" (Nevermind that he had two blankets, two stuffed animals and an adult-sized pillow in his toddler-sized bed to keep him company). We started to search for Bear, and searched and searched and searched. Ethan went on a frenzy looking for it in his room. Will checked the car and I tried all of the usual hiding places (under the kitchen sink, in the clothes dryer). We even let Ethan out of his room and tried to make "Find Bear" a new game in case he had intentionally hidden it. This went on and on until Will found Bear at 10:00 pm wedged behind (but not under where we had checked) a couch cushion. At 10:15 all finally seemed right in Ethan's world until I heard a little voice over the monitor say, "Mommy, I throwed up." Yep, that's right--"throwed up" all over Bear! So, Bear spent the night in the washing machine and our poor little Linus went to bed minus Bear after all.