Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Celebrations and blankies.


This morning we celebrated Joel's 59th birthday. Yes, he brought the cake and candles to me, proclaiming that he was "59 years old". Wow! He really is growing up...




And we've had some nice days lately so Zac took some pictures of the boys playing outside. As I was looking at them, I realized they were both clutching their blankies. They are both completely attached to their blankies in every way. Usually this is a nice thing. They are instantly comforted in new places when I present the sacred blankies, and they will fall asleep in strange beds as long as they are able to caress the silky tags attached to the blankies (Joel is showing the tag to the camera in the third picture). I even read an article in a parenting magazine applauding the benefits of "comfort objects" for little boys. The author mentioned, however, that it would be completely natural for the attachment to continue until the age of 7 or 8...yikes! I can't imagine 6 more years of frantically searching for them at bedtime when they've been misplaced or going back several aisles in the grocery store because someone dropped theirs. Each boy actually has two identical blankies that I rotate but I panicked when I realized how long their lifespan may need to be. So I am on a mission to find them more that will substitute if needed. Especially since one of Joel's just got an "injury" after part of it melted to my mom's fireplace...oops.

Did I seriously just write almost an entire post about blankies? It's hard to imagine right now that one day this phase of our lives will seem like so long ago. I hope it goes slowly, I actually like this phase. Especially on days like yesterday when Joel kindly propped a pillow under my arm and said, "Here you go, sweetie". Or later when I told him he needed a hug and he looked at me and said, "I just love you so much" in the cutest, softest, meekest voice you've ever heard. Or when Jesse insists on being held every night while I am trying to make dinner. Oh wait, no, that phase can just pass on by. :) I caught his tantrum on camera as evidence of this unfortunate habit.

2 comments:

Sam said...

Comfort objects... we continue with the ever precious lamb, which is very loved/used by now... we actually found a duplicate two months ago, but the difference between the old one (being loved for a year and a half) and the new one is so stark that it does not serve as a duplicate, just as another lamb in the bed. The original lamb is still necessary, all others can be present or absent without issue. I'm hoping that the second lamb will eventually smell and feel enough like the original that it will be OK when that original one disintegrates... we'll see! But that still only gets us to about age four...

Abby said...

Sam,

Maybe you could smear some food on the new run, then rub it around on the cement, then wash it in the washing machine about 25 times...that should help. Although then you've just shortened it's lifespan incredibly. We press on...