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There was an awful accident at my daughter’s home last Thursday! Pop-pop had his guts ripped from him, from behind-no less.

It was as heart-breaking as it was heart-wrenching. Poor Pop-pop, a hole in his back and as thin as anyone had ever seen him be. Oh the tears, oh the drama. Dylan (our 18 month old grandson) was truly traumatized. It took a special cyber tape from the human Pop-pop and 4 hours to get him to sleep both nights until a trip to the ER could be made possible.

For anyone who hasn’t figured it out, Pop-pop is the beloved stuffed bear that my daughter, husband and Dylan made at our local Build-a-Bear. Complete with a heart beat and a song being sung by my husband lovingly encased on the inside of the typical brown bear.

From the description of “the incident”-my daughter said that one of the stitches had come loose. She didn’t have a sewing kit and hadn’t been able to go to the store with the boys to buy one. Sarah figured it would be okay until “he” got repaired, since it was only the couple of stitches.

The problem with that thought is that Dylan is a very curious little guy-he found the “hole” and kept sticking his finger in it-which of course made it all the “looser”. One of the pokes in pulled out a bit of the stuffing on the way out.

That’s when the tragedy happened. Their dog saw the stuffing and decided Pop-pop looked like he needed some shaking. At the time, my daughter took a trip to the restroom-bad timing for nature to take its course. The dog grabbed the bear and shook the stuffing out of him, literally.

Thankfully, the rest of Pop-pop was intact! But there was my daughter, consoling Dylan. Poor little thing was crying “Bye Pop-pop, bye”. They called us-the wailing and sadness in his voice was soooo sad.

I told him not to worry, we’d take Pop-pop to the bear doctor on Saturday and get him fixed. The sobbing continued. My husband got on the line and sang “the song” to him and told him we’d get his bear fixed as soon as possible. He cried more.

Saturday came none to soon. Leaving Aidan at home with Daddy, my daughter and grandson came out and we took Pop-pop straight into Build-a-Bear.

First thing I asked the woman at the counter “We’ve had a terrible accident, is the ER open?” She said “Let me take care of Pop-pop” She looked at Dylan and said, “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine and able to play with you in just a few minutes” We wandered around the store looking at the various outfits.

Dylan kept a very close watch on the “doctor”. It wasn’t long before she came over and said-”Dylan, he’s going to be just fine, but what he really needs to help him feel all better is a hug from you!”

Dylan latched on to Pop-pop and cried. He waved at the woman and blew her a kiss.

She “aahed” and said this was one of the reasons she loved her job.

We thanked her several more times and then went to meet the human Pop-pop in the courtyard. Seems the gruesome aspects of watching his namesake have such delicate surgery was too much for my husband.

By the end of the afternoon, Dylan was his usual happy-go-lucky self. His mom was glad this episode was over. For us, it brought back memories of when her beloved “raggyann” had lived through a similar experience. Except our then German Shepard mix ripped the face off and the dolly doctor told Sarah she couldn’t help! I wound up cutting up a dish towel and sewing on a terry cloth face and using different color sharpies to draw in the eyes, nose and mouth.

I’m not an artist, but for Sarah, I had saved her precious “raggy”, so I was a good mom.

Here’s hoping when it’s Aidan’s turn to have this happen he has the same good experience as his brother. Or that their dog loses interest in stuffed animals.

Oh, one more little thing-remember I mentioned a few columns ago that I was going to be featured for my biscotti recipe? Well, it came out in the print edition today. If anyone would like to actually see me, hear my voice and see the short little slide show (and click recommend on the article!), here’s the link:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/biscotti-rosemary-baking-2122079-flour-loaf