One of the firsts gifts a newborn usually receives is a baby blanket. Several actually. They end up covered in pee, poo and barf so you must rotate.
Mason had a nice collection of soft blankies from family and friends but of course there was one he 'really' loves.
A blue 'marshmallow' blanket by Kyle & Deena.
We wrapped him in it as a baby and as he got older, it was the blanket he dragged into the living room as he watched cartoons and drank his morning bottle.
As Mason entered into toddler-hood, we noticed he was using his blanket to self soothe. Instead of cuddling the blanket, he was poking his fingers into the holes of the chenille and pulling his fingers out. Repetitively. It was how he fell asleep, with his little fingers threaded through the blanket.
Due to 'heavy use', the blanket has seen better days so about a year ago I went on a mission to replace this blanket with the same one. It had a tag on it and I knew my Mom bought it at Winners (they no longer carry them) and I did find one but it was brown and on Ebay and $50!! Kyle & Deena stopped selling it because it posed a safety risk because kids were poking their fingers through the chenille (LOL).
So I gave up on searching for a replacement.
When we split households, this blankie came to my place and Mason never seemed to have an issue with not having his blanket at his Dad's house. He has several there that are just as soft and he cuddles with those. Which is a good thing because have you ever dealt with a child who is obsessed with his/her lovey and it's lost? Major meltdowns!
This little blue blanket is almost 3 years old and is getting quite tattered on the edges:
Last night Mason was sleeping beside me and he started to yell out. Obviously he was having a bad dream. So I repeated, "It's okay, Mommy is here" over and over but he still was thrashing about. This was some dream!
So I searched around for the mighty blankie and found it at his feet. I put it on his chest, he reached for it and started to thread his fingers through the holes and instantly he was calm.
Wow - that's some magical blankie!
Side note - while writing this blog, I did find a replacement but in green and the price has dropped to $30+shipping. Should I get it?