LOST SNAIL... GOES BY THE NAME AVA

Ava has a new pet. A snail. Whom she appropriately named Ava. Ava the snail entered our lives via the backyard a few days ago. Ava the little girl sat and watched her and fed her leaves for about an hour and then kept checking on her for several more after that. When she woke up from her nap, Ava the snail was gone. Ava the little girl was, of course, devastated that her pet had "run" away. I explained that Ava the snail was probably just visiting her family and would be back in a few days because snails moves at, well, a snail's pace and take a long time to get from one place to another and back again. That seemed to suffice. Ava the little girl hadn't mentioned Ava the snail since then until this morning when I heard a delighted shriek from the backyard:

"Mama! Ava is back!!"

Sure enough, Ava the snail, or a cousin of hers, had made her way back to our backyard. Ava assumed she was tired from her long journey and gave her a nice resting place in the shade on our back steps. She fed her, introduced her to Jax, you know normal pet stuff. All of which would be a little weird if she weren't three, but since she is, it's all kinda cute. So, after the feeding, talking and introductions, it was time for lunch followed by a nap. Several times during lunch Ava the little girl poked her head out the back door and called, "Ava are you still there?" and then with relief, "Oh, there you are." However, once again after naptime was a different story. Ava bounced down the stairs and in to the backyard to greet her pet, but alas, Ava the snail was nowhere to be found. With a sense of urgency in her voice Ava rushed inside and announced, "Mommy, we need to make a sign! Ava is lost. And we need a map so someone can bring her back to our house!" So, Ava the little girl and I promptly went to work on creating a MISSING SNAIL sign. She drew Ava the snail and I wrote, "LOST SNAIL PLEASE RETURN IF FOUND." I asked Ava the little girl to write Ava the snail's name on the paper and she replied, "But I don't know how." "Honey, it's the same as your name." "No, it's different because it's HER name." I guess that is a confusing concept to a young child. Anyway, eventually I got through to her and she wrote Ava's name on the sign.

We were getting ready to post it when she demanded she and I go look in the backyard one more time. So, there we were, walking around the backyard calling, "AAAAAVVVVVVVAAAAAA!" No luck. However, we did find several roly-poly bugs which quickly gained Ava's interest and Ava the snail was soon forgotten. The MISSING SNAIL sign is sitting on our kitchen table. Since the news of the lost snail isn't getting out to the masses, I thought I'd take it to the blog. So, if you see a snail and it answers to the name Ava, please return her. A funny little girl will likely begin missing her again tomorrow.

Searching for her snail in her Cinco de Mayo dress (which was mine when I was a little girl)