Hear That Sound?
It’s 4yo Drake, growing up. He has a handful of bedtime friends from when he was an infant: Mouton, a sheep blankie; Daisy and Duckie, stuffed ducks; Googly Fish; and Snake, from Ikea. When he was three, during what I thought of as his age of imagination, he would fashion a car out of the snake, put the other animals inside, then say he was going in the friends’ car to the friends’ house to play.
In a recent swirl of tidying, I picked Mouton off the floor, held her up and said, “Drake, Mouton belongs in bed, not on the floor. The floor hurts her back.”
“Mom,” he said gravely. “Mouton is a _stuffed animal_. She doesn’t have feelings.”
I paused as the emotional wind got knocked out of me, then tried again.
“Even if she’s a pretend sheep, then she has pretend feelings, right?”
“OK,” Drake replied, then grabbed the sheep and tossed her on the bed.
It’s funny and sad to see a stage about to end. It always feels like certain things will go on forever, until they don’t. Interestingly, 2yo Guppy is getting picky about his loveys just as Drake has become less interested in his. Today Guppy had a brachiosaurus jump on my head while I did yoga, insisted on Snuffles the bear and Binky the triceratops in his crib for naptime, and let the pigeon pick out books to read.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:59 am
My four year old never really had special loveys. She rotates through a different animal to sleep with almost nightly.
The two year old however, has like six “Sweethearts” That all must be on her bed. And every night when it is bed time her ritual includes gathering them ALL up in her arms and depositing them on her bed before a drink of water and teeth brushing.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Our 2yo is practicing for future gym class. He’s picking two different friends for each nap- and bedtime, and has both favorites and ones he shuns. I feel so bad for the animals not chosen.
Toy Story and Velveteen Rabbit have made me too sensitive.
I picked up the 4yo’s sheep blankie the other day, and noticed the many tiny holes in it. He chewed on her when he was teething, and she seems to wear the marks of all 20 of those teeth.