Written 6/9/02
One of Banker’s favorite toys (of his own selection) is Webster Duckworth.
Webster is a soft, bright yellow stuffed duck with a neck long enough that
its body sticks out one side of Banker’s mouth and its head the other. When
Parker came along, it didn’t take long for him to spot Webster, and the race
was on. When Webster appeared from time to time, and Parker had
opportunity, it quickly became his possession. He liked to trot back and
forth around Banker to tempt a chase.
A few weeks ago, I was drawn toward a yard sale and found a smaller version
of Webster, with shorter pink pile on its body. For $0.50 I congratulated
myself for solving the duck issue.
Parker thinks the pink duck is wonderful. Webster had been desqueakerized,
but the pink duck had a gadget that made a sound as you moved the duck. It
became his prized toy.
Once when they were playing, blood appeared all over the pink duck. I
jumped up and got a white towel to see whose mouth had been injured. It
turned out that Parker had lost another baby tooth.
The pink duck got another bath.
This morning a storm came through, with sufficient rain to keep us indoors.
It was a good time to let Parker and Banker play, and Banker had been
enticing play all morning. He had Webster, so I gave Parker the pink duck
and let him into the living room with Banker.
They tugged back and forth on the pink duck, which appears to be pretty well
stitched. Then they played with the Jack toy, then they began the mouth
play. Banker had sudden attacks of head-rubbing as his ears tingled from
puppy teeth. Parker tried sitting on Dad’s head, but is growing wiser each
day from the master of play. As this play began to wind down, Parker picked
up the pink duck and circled Banker with it several times. Banker was
laying on the Jack toy. Finally Banker snatched the pink duck, and Parker
grabbed the Jack toy and made off with it – a successful “bait & switch”
tactic.
I decided that it was time to call an end to the play, and Greg was making
interesting sounds in the kitchen, so we wandered there & I got out the
Milkbones. Everyone went to their areas, Parker to his crate, to enjoy
their cookie. [Rainy weather puts Greg in the mood to make yeast bread –
mmmm.]
A few minutes later, I looked into the living room and Banker was proudly
displaying his new toy – the pink duck.
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