Gaga

Every small child has a favorite object. Niece Jordan had a stuffed dog named Homer. Caroline had a blanket named Bubble.


Eleanor had Gaga.

TGP, Gaga, Eleanor, Mary Anne


Uncle Tom

Gaga arrived from Uncle Tom on her first birthday. Gaga was a frog puppet; from July 1987 and for several years afterward, he was rarely off of Eleanor's hand.

One night in the crib, Eleanor was inconsolable, which was not like her. She was standing up and crying and would not go to sleep. After quite a while of this, as part of the inspection parents do in situations like that, we removed Gaga from her hand, or at least attempted to do so. Turns out that the nylon thread inside the back of Gaga's head had gotten wrapped around Eleanor's finger. The finger was a little bit blue, but came back just fine after we unentangled it.

We moved to Charleston when Eleanor was around 2. Eleanor's first plane flight was shortly after that when we flew back to DC to see Colm Wilkinson in Les Miserables. We had bought tickets before we knew we were moving after herself saw an interview on 20/20 which closed with the line: "I knew the play was about finding God, but I didn't know they had cast him as the tenor lead". Colm is indeed glorious when he sings Bring Him Home. Listen to it if you never have.

Anyway, boarding the flight, I was carrying Eleanor and she was, of course, carrying Gaga. The flight attendant greeted us and asked Eleanor what the name of her frog was. She said, very clearly, "Gaga". The attendant looked puzzled and turned to ask me. I replied, "Yes, the frog's name is "Gaga".


Bruce and Eben on YGC winter tour in 1983

We enjoyed the show and had a great trip, despite last minute changes that left friend Bruce babysitting, long before fatherhood had blessed him. I remember him working so hard at keeping Eleanor's face clean between every bite in the high chair. Fast forward several years, and I was at his house watching him feed his own 2 year old twins, Sam and Sophie. He turned to me in all seriousness and said, "I don't know how people with triplets do it". It's all in your perspective.


Gaga was close at hand for many years, despite developing a bad case of gingivitis. The pink felt in his mouth deteriorated until it was pretty much gone. We couldn't find an adequate substitute frog, and Eleanor would not have wanted a different one anyway.

You never know which object is going to become a one year old's fascination. It's part of the fun of watching them grow.