The Color Red

Two stories involving the color red:

Story #1 – Tabby: So I lay out an outfit for Tabby almost every night. Last night it was her red Harajuku Mini top and a pair of yoga-style capris. I also laid out socks and underwear, but not shoes. So she got dressed this AM and I encouraged her to wear some tennis shoes since Thursday is running club day. But she, of course, wanted to wear the sparkly shoes that my mom got her. They’re pretty good school shoes with rubbery bottoms and all, but they’re not great for running. But if Tabby makes a stand anywhere, it’s on footwear. She loves shoes and tennies aren’t really her idea of high fashion. Suddenly, I remembered the red sparkle cons I’d bought her when she was around 2 yrs old. I loved them, but the only size they had them in was 13 (she was probably a 7 or 8 at the time). They were on sale, so I bought them anyhow and kept them until her foot hit the magic number. Unfortunately, that was late last spring. Not a lot of call for red sparkle cons in the summer months (4th of July primarily). But luckily her feet do not grow like they once did and so she donned the shoes this AM and couldn’t have looked cuter. She informed me that they are her new favorites since they are sparkly AND red (her favorite color).

Story #2 – Ben: Last night, everyone went to bed without much incident. They kids were tired and we got home way late. Ben has had a little cold and he has been waking up occasionally when he coughs a bunch. Usually he either goes back to sleep on his own or he just needs a pat on his back. But last night all hell broke loose over a red blanky. Ben has quite a few beloved blankies. None of them is red. Yet last night, after I stumbled half awake into his room, he repeatedly requested his “red blanky.” I offered up every blanky at hand (quite a few: brown, blue, Buzz, little Buzz, Buzz sheet) and after the Buzz sheet was offered, he seemed happy enough. So I started back to bed. I’d just gotten comfortable when he started screaming again. I went back in and he made the same red blanky request. I wondered if he meant the large blanket we keep in the popup. It’s never on his bed, but it is on ours and he comes to snuggle with us sometimes, so I suggested this and he vehemently insisted that it was HIS red blanky, not some other popup blanky. Finally, I turned on the light and asked him to point to something red. He pointed to the nearest GREEN thing and my mystery was solved. He has a very much beloved GREEN blanky which I quickly found for him and derailed BenCON 5. The whole thing is puzzling though because he definitely knows his colors. I can only assume he was in as much of a stupor as I was.