my blankie boys

I had a "blankie" as a little girl and it brought me so much comfort. I obviously slept with it at night, but I also used it when I was sad or hurt, and also played with it in happy times too. I knew I wanted Isaac to have a lovey like that, preferably a small blanket. When he was a baby I found the issie blanket by aden + anais and fell in love with it. It was small, plus thin and breathable, and I felt comfortable giving it to Isaac in his crib around 5-6 months. It took a few months for him to get really attached, but he eventually fell in love with it too. We called it Blankie (for a while when he was learning to talk he called it Duh-Duh), and he slept with Blankie every night until he was around 3 years old. I'm not exactly sure when it started, but at some point he started not caring if Blankie was in bed with him or not. It made me pretty sad, but it was all him, so I rolled with it. Occasionally he will still ask about Blankie, and "he" is still around, but it's not the same at all.

Looking through old pictures, I found many many pictures of Isaac holding Blankie and Woody (from Toy Story). Those two were such a pair for so long, we often called them BlankieWoody, one word. Time for bed? "Go get BlankieWoody." Woody was just as important as Blankie, and his high rank fell around the same time as Blankie.

When I was pregnant with Levi I purchased the same issie blanket in a different pattern. I wanted Levi to be a blankie boy too. Again, I started giving it to him around 6 months, but by 10 or so months he really hadn't attached to it yet, so I went a different direction. I had heard about Angel Dear Blankies soon after I ordered Levi's other blankies but it was too late, so I pushed it out of my mind. Now was the time to make the switch, so I chose my favorite (with a little help on instagram) and crossed my fingers. The first time I gave the new one to him at nap he looked across the room at the old one, so he napped that day with both, but from then on it was new blankie only. I call him Mr. Moo (he's a cow) and he quickly learned who Mr. Moo was. Levi loves it! He's much more attached to it than his old blankie, although it's mostly inside the crib. He doesn't care too much outside the crib, but he will occasionally pull it out through the slats and give him a hug or kiss. Fun fact: Mr. Moo is the only "person" who Levi will kiss on demand.

It's funny for me to watch the monitor because Levi will move around the crib in his sleep and Mr. Moo almost always goes with him. It was definitely the right choice to switch. It is further evidence that just because something worked for the first kid it may not work for the second kid.

Last night I put the boys to bed while Rodney went out to pick up dinner. I had taken Mr. Moo in the car earlier in the day and it was still there, with Rodney. I looked all over for our second Mr. Moo but couldn't find it either. I didn't panic because I knew it was somewhere, but I put Levi to bed with his old blankie, just for a placeholder until Rodney got home. I was hopeful that it would work but it really didn't. He was fussy and unsettled until Rodney got back about 20 minutes later. He took Mr. Moo to Levi and said that he immediately clutched it to his chest and started rubbing it. Mr. Moo #2 was later found in the diaper bag, which was also in the car.