Cody, Bidi, and Patches: After Dark

A couple nights ago, about 45 minutes after bed time, I heard some commotion in Cody's room. And I went up to investigate.

When I walked in, Cody was sitting in bed rifling through his covers. He informed me that he had misplaced Patches.

As I knelt down to join the search, he cautioned me, "Please don't move any of my other stuffies. I have them all arranged."

I paused for a moment, my eyes still adjusting to the dark. As my visual purple took hold, this is what I saw:

Mind you, that's just at the head of his bed. All along the wall, more stuffies were meticulously placed, according to some deep logic. At the foot of the bed was Henry Walden and some of the larger bears. As I pulled my phone out to take a picture, Cody giggled.

"Do you do this every night?" I asked him.

He grinned at me as if I'd asked the silliest question in the world. "Of course I do, daddy."

We found Patches, tucked him in (you can see him between Snowy Owl and Mommy Penguin/Franklin), and then I kissed Cody goodnight and left him to his own devices. We never heard another sound from him, but I like to think that it was a short while before he drifted off to sleep.

(Pictured, from left to right, top row first: Bailey the Polar Bear, Bailey the Mouse, Penguin Chick, Prince, Baseball Bear, Gloria the Polar Bear, Mommy Mei Shan, Mommy Shark, Jonathan Bear; Second row: Baby Tippy, Miss Flippers, Baby Loggerhead Turtle, Snowy Owl, Patches, Mommy Penguin/Franklin, Bailey the Dolphin; Third row: Big Tippy, Otter, Duck Blanket.)