About
a year or so ago, I seemed to have this idea that Emma had found her
lifelong lovie, her Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal. For those
that need a brief explanation, a “lovie” is a child’s favorite comfort
item/ best friend/
go to thing that they must have everywhere with them at all times. So
for a while, I thought we’d lucked out and Emma had picked a stuffed
animal to see her through the good and bad times that was a universally
loved character and would be easy to replace
should tragedy strike. I feel like there’s a Winnie the Pooh bear at
every toy store, drugstore, airport, and roadside stand so we would be
safe if he was to get lost or ruined at any time.
Well
the months passed and Emma’s monogamous relationship with
Winnie the Pooh evolved into an all-out love fest that included Mickey
Mouse, Curious George, Goofy, the velveteen Rabbit, and several baby
dolls. I thought we'd dodged a bullet, my child didn't seem to have a preference
for any one single item so there was no need to worry about anything getting
lost, or accidently thrown out, or covered in vomit, or run over by a
Mac truck. We’re good. And things stayed the
course for a long time until slowly a few key players seemed to always
find their way into Emma’s bed and then they seemed to find their way
out into the living room with her and even sometimes into the dreaded
car. It should have clicked then for me that
the same two things kept coming with us wherever we went but me and my
motherly buffoonery did not notice anything happening. Until one night…
I
was peacefully sleeping, which I am so thankful to get to do these
days, when I heard a cry come from Emma’s room. I got up to see what was
wrong, went into her room, and comforted her until she went back to
sleep. The next morning,
I asked her why she was crying last night (thinking it might be
nightmares) and her response came flying at me like a ton of bricks… “I
lost my baby and I was sad mommy and I cannot sleep without my baby!” In
slow motion but all at once, my eyes popped out
of my head and my jaw dropped to the floor. Storm clouds quickly
gathered over our living room and I swore I heard O Fortuna streaming in the
background. I was suddenly acutely aware that my sweet slumberful nights
now depended on a 13 inch piece of cotton with
a fleece pink dress and two yellow yarn braids coming out of a
Paddington bear like pink hat!
I
knew which baby she meant. I had purposefully picked this baby to be
the “sleep in bed only” baby doll as the rest were always covered in
dirt and dog hair the minute they left Emma’s room. I always make sure
she has a few things in
her bed to snuggle and that doll was one of them and now all of a sudden, it had become a necessity. To give a brief background on this particular
baby doll, it was given to Emma by her great grandmother probably when
she was about 9 months old or so. It was
the first baby doll she ever received and I was weary about it
(gender stereotypes and all) but Emma loved it so we kept it. I thought
for sure it was a specialty doll or something random and obscure that
we would never be able to replace but…
There she is in all her ready to be
ordered glory! Thank you internet universe! After that first bad night, I
found the original baby stuck between the bed and the wall so… crisis
averted! We’ve had a few close calls when baby does happen
to make it out to the car or the living room (which I have been giving
in on more and more…) but for the most part, there have been no loses.
Since the first night we discovered Emma’s sleep depended on a baby
doll, she has woken up a handful of times crying
because she cannot find baby but each time it’s a quick fix (baby likes
to travel to the foot of the bed it seems.) So there you have it, lovie
#1.
My eyes just darted up and I realize this has become a long post already and I haven’t even addressed the
SECOND lovie. Yes, we have been blessed with not one, but two
items my child cannot sleep without/ has to have with her everywhere.
This second lovie might be even more important than the first, it’s
Emma’ s blankie. If you dare misplace Emma’s blankie,
a toddler tantrum vortex, the likes you have never seen before, will
swallow you up and drag you down to the flaming hot gates of HELL! You
know, no pressure. The story of the balnkie pretty much parallels the
story of the baby doll, only I was more aware
that she had a dependency on it, I was just in denial about it for
whatever reason. This blankie is a green, thermal, Gerber baby blanket
that seriously is NO LONGER MADE (well in green). Being clairvoyantly
savvy before Emma was born, I had ordered three
of them knowing what dangers lurk out there for wonderful blankets. One
of the blankets didn’t make it through an unfortunate diaper explosion
back in 2012. The other two, thank goodness, are intact and still around
after all this time even though Emma has definitely
out grown them, yet still insists on using only them as a source of
warmth. Literally she refuses to use any other blanket at night and will
end up with either her torso or her claves/ feet exposed. It is great
having two since we always have one while the
other gets washed but that means both are CRITICAL. It’s like a ying
and yang balance that gets thrown off if either blanket goes missing.
And one day, one did…
It
was a Monday and Emma was upset she could not find her blanket to take
to school with her (which is forbidden because we’ve lost a big box
store’s worth of baby inventory at daycare so yeah I let her bring them
in the car but no further.)
After a long search, a meltdown that I don’t even want to replay in my
mind to describe here, and several frantic phone calls to the hubs, I
was sure it was lost forever (this is the day I found out
they do not make the green one anymore, they have white or pink but
um yeah not the same). Anyways we finally found blankie in the back of
daddy’s car. At that point I made it crystal clear to the entire
household that blankie was to NEVER leave the house
under any circumstances and we’ve been fine since.
I’m
not sure if one really reigns supreme over the other. Both seem to have
the same mesmerizing grip on her. In a way, I’m glad she has comfort
items to turn to if things ever get rough. I just hope we never have to
part with the originals.
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