Topher goes to elaborate lengths to intrigue Thumbelina about the antics of her stuffed Barney friends. Last night, Thumbelina and I were making homemade pizza at the kitchen island, with her standing on a chair pulled up next to me. He snuck into the kitchen, dashed into the pantry and stood with the door cracked open and Baby Bop positioned in his hand, peeking around the corner - waiting for Thumbelina to notice. Her surprised gasp alerted me that yet another rendition of “The Fairy Pantry” was about to commence.

She watches raptly as Baby Bop sneaks a bite of coveted chocolate, shakes her tail in hello and sings “If you’re happy and you know it,” in a familiar off-key voice. Baby Bop tends to disappear occasionally, and Thumbelina coaxes her out again with impassioned pleas. “Bop! Bop! Boooooopppppppppppp!” She always returns, happy to oblige, and Thumbelina claps with mesmerized joy to see her little friend come to life, as real as can be. (Interestingly, Thumbelina will never approach the actual pantry when Bop is out and about.)

As the minutes drag on, I eventually find a way to loudly distract Thumbelina, announcing what we’re doing in begrudging help to Topher’s hope for a clean escape from The Fairy Pantry. The moment he hears the kitchen chair squeak, he whips out from behind the door, leaps to the front entry of the kitchen doorway and picks up a prop - last night, it was a laundry basket. “Hi, girls!” he’ll say to us, and Thumbelina will turn around, brimming with news and the need to tell him immediately that her beloved Bop was RIGHT THERE, just moments ago. Topher loves the opportunity to feign shock, and he encourages Thumbelina to go check out the inside of the pantry and see who might be in there. She holds his thumb, very trustingly, and creeps quietly toward the small, darkened room, clearly wondering what she will find. Topher flips on the light and quickly - Thumbelina sees Bop, nestled in the forbidden Easter candy stash, smiling her eternal smile and ready to greet her faithful friend. Thumbelina turns to Topher, her mouth wide open and gasping, and Topher asks her how Bop got in the pantry. “Idaknow!” she says, completely intrigued and pivoting to look at me, as if for confirmation that I didn’t accidentally put Bop in the pantry. “No, sweetpea, it wasn’t Mama.” Topher smothers a laugh. The rest of the night, Thumbelina is hyped up with appreciation for Bop and gives her extra loves and heaps of affection. I think Daddy gets a few extra kisses, too.

This morning, Topher left for work before Thumbelina and I were out of bed. She asked me about Bop immediately, but being completely exhausted from her non-stop-nurse-aholic ways last night, I didn’t have much of an answer. I sleepily followed her out to the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water and somewhat involved in my own morning routine before I noticed Thumbelina standing outside the closed pantry door, poised and waiting.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Bop,” she said, not moving.

“Oh. Do you think Baby Bop is in there again?”

“Okay!” She got excited at me verbalizing what she was hoping, clapping her hands and gesturing for me to open the door.

We looked, but no Bop. Poor Thumbelina. She stared hopefully at the Easter candy, as if willing Baby Bop to suddenly appear. I suggested we go look in the bedroom and see if maybe she was still sleeping (since I thought I remembered a furry five-inch stuffed animal jammed into my hip from last night). But, she just looked at me with eyes beginning to look worried and eventually teared up, all the while whispering, “Bop? Bop?”

Oh, dear.

We called Daddy and I told her that he said Baby Bop would probably come out to play later tonight, since that’s when Baby Bop appeared last night. “Oh.” I’m not entirely sure she understood, but it seemed to satisfy her hope that the pantry would indeed return to more magical exploits sometime soon…