Possibly my proudest moment as a mother
Last night I stayed up late and fixed Cow.
Who is Cow? That would be the Tiny Dark Lord's long-term lovey. It's a Blankie Buddy that came with a pair of pajamas he received as a baby gift. They've slept together every night since he was about 2 months old, with the exception of one awful night last summer when Cow accidentally got left in the garden and we didn't find him until the next day.
Theirs is a pure love.
Cow is wonderful. Cow has also been loved to death. Discolored, threadbare death. I've scoured the Internet looking for a replacement. (And I no longer mock the desperate parents on eBay who will pay any amount of money to replace a lovey and OH MY GOSH FINALLY GET SOME PEACE.) But my hunch is that the cow was already discontinued when TDL received him. You can get other animals, even in a 2-pack (brilliant) but no cow. I did one day cave and pay a ridiculous amount for a Bear Blankie Buddy that seemed really similar, but of course that didn't fly. I've also learned what The People recommend for loveys--have two and swap them out occasionally. That way they will both wear at about the same pace and will feel and smell "right."
Or, you know, you could be smart and not encourage the whole lovey thing. I'm just saying. I was the one who kept putting the thing in the baby's crib, like an idiot.
Anyway, Cow was dying. Blankie body shredding to bits, coming detached at the head, all of it. I went through TDL's old baby clothes in preparation for the new baby and found the pajamas that Cow came with. And after much procrastination I finally cut up the pants (which were the same fabric as Cow's body used to be), created a new body (now that I'm not as terrified of the sewing machine), and then hand-sewed Cow's head and arms on. Since I'm not a seamstress, it looks totally wonky.
But it used to look like this:
And now it looks like this:
I slipped the refurbished stuffed animal back in TDL's crib and went to bed.
In the morning I went in and asked about Cow, half afraid he would reject it like those sheep mothers who aren't fooled when they're given an orphaned lamb with their baby's skin on top.
TDL: Cow has pajamas!
No lie, he thought it was the most delightful thing. He insisted on carrying Cow everywhere this morning, and would randomly pick him up, give him a hug and a kiss, and say, "I love Cow."
Epic, epic win by me.
And this way he'll still have something to comfort him this December when, as a birthday present, I take away his binkies.
Feel free to share lovey stories in the comments, would love to hear them! Maybe the person with the oddest story will win an imaginary prize or something.
I'm Steph, a librarian and mom of 3 (not sure how that happened). Let's chat books, food, Sumptuous Literary Adaptations, poop, knitting and maybe some crazy Mormon Feminism.
19 comments:
Bless your heart! Our vices are fluffy discontinued blankets whose replacement sells for 100$ on eBay. Ate you kidding me? Your post reminded me if this sweet stuffed animal reunion: http://youtu.be/Lk34j3HUJbE
Amy, you did NOT just send me that link. I am now a sobbing mess at my computer.
My first two got attached to their silky blue blankets (which I of course cannot find replacements for). Luckily every time they've gotten lost, they've been found, but now they're pretty threadbare.
Enter child #3, who decided that his greatest love would be the cloth diapers we used as burp cloths. I always thought they smelled gross, but I guess to him they smell wonderful. But it's actually turned out to be fantastic because I have a HUGE STACK OF THEM. And he doesn't care which one he has, as long as he has one. Also, they're small enough to not be obnoxious when he has to carry one everywhere. I even cut a neck hole and added knit ribbing to one of them so he could wear it like a bib when we're out and about (so now I don't have to constantly retrieve the dropped lovey while I'm driving). And, when he holds it up against his cheek and sucks his thumb, it's pretty much the cutest thing ever. So burp cloths as lovies? I'm a huge fan. Try to get your new little one hooked on something like that.
Go you, fixing Cow! I'm totally impressed and I love TDL's reaction.
Our boy loves Tobias the sock monkey so much that we took family photos with him. For reals: http://containyourexcitement.blogspot.com/2012/07/ike-and-tobias.html
I'm impressed!!
My youngest has a baby blanket (normal) but his blanket has a favorite corner that he likes to brush very gently against his nose while he sleeps (or when he's upset). And he's crazy particular about that corner...don't your DARE try to pawn one of the other 3 corners off as "his corner". There will be blood.
His blanket is two layers and the stitching recently came undone so it was kind of a mess. He asked me to fix it, so I did. And in the process I apparently ruined his corner. TEARS. MANY OF THEM. This was like 6 weeks ago and he's still mad at me about it.
The cloth dipers/burp cloths were my blankie. It was amazing, my mom was a genius! I carried them with me everywhere and whenever they got dirty, my mom switched them out. She still has some of them, though she uses them as cleaning rags now. I'm not bitter....
Well done fixing the lovey - I am really impressed.
Kayla, my daughter does that too - the tickling her nose thing when she's sleepy! She's not particular to a corner, but yeah, the blanket (originally sewn by my MIL) has fallen apart a few times and she's had to cut it down and re-attach it together. Eventually it will be the size of a napkin, I guess. Which might be kind of nice.
Noses must be a thing--TDL holds bits of cow up to his nose while he's falling asleep, and sometimes likes to stick Cow's ears UP his nose. Which is not at all disgusting.
My oldest son has a one-and-only blanket. One time we flew to California and arrived at our hotel just in time for bed. At which point he threw up on it. And so, realizing that he had never in his ENTIRE LIFE slept without it and we were in a strange place with 3 other people in the room all desperate for sleep, I found a clean part of the edging that was unraveling, cut it off and he slept that night with a tiny shard (just a ratty piece of yard, really) of his blanket, which he clutched with a death grip. The next day we promptly found a laundromat.
P.S. I have learned. Boy #2 has 8 interchangeable blankets.
All of us kids had a blanket and a bear. I'm sure I was attached to my blanket (I still remember the pattern) but my bear was more important. I took that thing everywhere till I was about 12. I once left it on a bus in a foreign country (rescued by a lovely grandpa who came running after us, luckily) and at my grandma's (but that was okay because she kept him for me for a while and then wrote me a lovely story about all the adventures they'd had). In fact, it was only the morning of my flight to SLC that I decided to leave bear behind at my dad's. And, not gonna lie, some nights I wish I brought him with me :)
Apparently I'm still very much in touch with my inner child.
Our almost 8 year old still sleeps with his blue baby blankie and when Hudson was like 12 or 18 months he decided it should be his, not Ethan's. Sibling sharing only goes so far so we quickly rushed out to Target to find a close but slightly different blankie for the baby. Crisis averted!!
Awesome work!
We have a bear that goes everywhere with our 6 year old and I laughed at Sherry's post because we too have professional family pics with him.
Reminds me of that book by Kevin Henkes, "Owen." Did I give you that one? Can't remember. Maybe it was "Julius, the Baby of the World." Remind me which one it was; I'll give you the other one as (part) of a baby gift.
My kid's blanket lovey is in shreds... I really should do something like this and give his moose some pajamas. That's an awesome idea!
It was not Julius the baby of the world. Hudson makes me read him that book every day. So maybe it's Owen?
My daughter Lucy had a lovey blanket that had not just a favorite corner, but a spot that was deemed "the sucking part". It used to be where the label was, and she would rub it on her nose (and also up her nose) while she sucked her thumb through the hole in the label. then the label came off, and left behind it... another hole between the blanket and the binding. Which hole then grew and grew, and the whole binding came off on one side... But yeah, frantically finding the "sucking part" in the dark sucked.. I always meant to repair the binding (and leave a small hole) but never got around to it. She lost interest in the blanket when she stopped sucking her thumb though. So, no point anymore right? Good on you for such a clever fix.
Desmama, you DID give me Owen, and I love it!
You're awesome! Will's lovey is a stuffed teddy bear, given to him by the hospital the day he was born. We discovered when he was in the ER at 15 months old that they quit doing that. And it is decidedly irreplaceable since it has the name of the hospital embroidered on the front.
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