First loves

Some kids get really attached to loveys. I was one such child. I had 4 loveys in my life. From understanding, my Curious George was my first, although I don't remember him. He was lost somewhere and my silly parents bought a new Curious George which I summarily rejected--he now lives in Liam's stuffed animal bin. The second was Bobo, the panda bear that played lullabyes. Grammy washed him, and I still remember him hanging on her clothes line by his ears and crying. He never played lullabyes again. I still wanted him near me, but never loved him as much again, so I guess my love was conditional. My 3rd lovey was my most important--my pink waffle knit blankey. I carried that blankey everywhere. The stain trim kept falling off and Poppy would have to re-sew it. I couldn't fall asleep without blankey. When I was 9, I moved from Georgia to Pennsylvania unexpectedly in the middle of the night. I clutched my blankey as my belongings were loaded into the back of Poppy's pick-up truck. I went to climb in the cab, and everyone insisted "Big girls don't need blankeys" and took it away from me. In the middle of the night, a tractor trailer honked at us to let us know Poppy's tailgate was open. As it turned out, some boxes fell out, and blankey was in one of them. I didn't sleep through the night again for 5 years. By that time, I became attached to one of the pillows Grammy gave to me when I moved in. It is a feather pillow hand-made by my great-grandmother, and is well over 100 years old. I named it the sleepytime pillow and took it to college. Grammy was disgusted 10 years ago that i still had it. I promised her I'd throw it out (she is convinced it will make me sick as it is likely full of mold and dust mites). It still lives on my bed, and I cuddle it more nights than I don't.

It is no surprise that my boys have loveys. Liam has two loveys. The first and most important is his lamby. My Dad and step-mom, Liam's Yia Yia and Papou, have given a lamby to each grandchild. Liam's lamby was the only thing in his crib. When he broke out of his Miracle Blanket swaddle at almost 9 months, Lamby was what he went for. He cuddled lamby every night since, and by about 14 months begin insisting that Lamby leave the crib to follow Liam on all his adventures. Lamby is already looking worn. He used to be fluffy and is now mostly flat, and has a permanent gray hue despite frequent washings. His eyes are whitened from being bounced in the dryer and his nose is coming apart as Liam pulls on its threads. Liam adores Lamby, however, and has rejected any lamby replacements. Around 1 year old, he found one of his expensive Steiff stuffed animals from Meme, Dave's mom. Ducky was his first word and he began carrying ducky around. These days he needs both ducky and lamby to fall asleep, and he carries ducky around by the throat.

Ben is already forming an attachment to a giraffe blanket from our next door neighbors. He tpuches it as he drifts off to sleep, and then pulls it towards him after he falls asleep.

I have to wonder what loveys my boys will have in their mid-30's.