Smartmama and I had a roommate in college who still slept with her favorite baby blanket. In the morning, she'd wake up and wrap it around her waist, and wear it as a skirt until she got around to putting something else on. At one time (around 1975) I guess it was a brown fuzzy blanket-- at least I'm assuming it started out brown, because that's the color it was when she was wearing it in college. Anyway, we had a ritual burning of the baby blanket the week before C got married. J, her fiance, loved her a lot, but that love didn't extend to the blanket. He told her she wasn't allowed to bring it with her after they were married. I guess that means we loved her more than he did, right?
When I was pregnant with Bryce, a friend gave me the nicest baby blanket ever. It's big and soft, with tassels on the edges for kids to grab onto and love. She told me that she wanted it to be his favorite blankie and by the time he was one, he was a little Linus, dragging the darn thing everywhere. At nearly six and a half, he still sleeps with cow blankie every night, cries when it loses a tassel, and has visions of turning it into a sportcoat when he grows up. After six years of love, Bryce's blankie looks like this:
You may notice that it's gray (having started out cream), several of the tassels are held on with safety pins, and the flannel back is completely threadbare. It actually photographs a lot better than it looks in real life.
When Annie was born, the same friend bought another blanket. But I seem to have friends who have issues with going to the post office, and I never got it. Annie had several substitute blankies (flowery and silky) but she never got attached to them the way Bryce did.
When I got pregnant with Isaac, I took matters into my own hands and ordered him a blankie from the same company (www.boogiebabyusa.com, for those who want to know). Safari goes everywhere with him, and as I type he's lying on it in the middle of the kitchen floor. When he wakes up in the morning, he comes out of his room dragging his elephant in one hand and safari in the other and he continues to carry it around until I can sneak it back into the bedroom. After two years of constant love, here's how it looks:
A few weeks ago my mom showed up at my house with this:
It's the blanket our friend originally bought for Annie, but never mailed. With a little persuasion (and a couple of toys from the dollar store), Annie decided to give it to Maren. I'm so excited because the blankets have gotten pretty pricey over the last six years, and I'm not sure I would have forked out the money for her to have one otherwise (but you know me, I probably would have, especially for the one with the picket fence). Maren's blankie is so clean and fluffy and soft and perfect right now that I hardly want to let her use it. But my boys' blankies have been such an important part of their early childhood that I know that she'll love hers just as much as they loved theirs. I just hope she gives it up before she leaves for college.
--originally published 9/21/06
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