Lovey x2

Lillian has been tricky when it comes to settling on a lovey. She has a pink Chewy Bear and two polka-dotted blankets. Both seemed like possible loveys (hence two blankets…), but Lily decided to go in a different direction.

While Lily loves any blanket with a satin trim, she has really fallen hard for a pink blanket “Blankie” that has two different fabrics, one on each side. I have searched far and wide for a replacement blanket so I could actually wash the one she diligently holds onto all day long. No luck. ebay has failed me, along with commercial stores. In fact, the blanket is one we were given when Ella was born, so it has that much more of a production head start on me. One day, I noticed there was an itty-bitty curled up tag still left on the blanket. Eureeka! It had a brand name and a website! Surely, this was what I needed to get a second Blankie in the house for Lily. Unfortunately, the company no longer makes blankets, just plush toys now and they don’t sell to individuals, even if they did. But, I had a more specific name to search for on ebay. Still, no luck. I was starting to feel somewhat defeated, almost teary, or it may have been the smell of Lily’s Blankie that was getting to me.

This search casually came up at Lily’s early childhood class while I was talking with her teacher. Ms. Wendy suggested I cut her current blanket in half, hem the side and viola, two blankies. So, I decided to do it. Blankie would be getting a little surgery.

With Lily strapped in her highchair, enjoying a fat-laden snack, I stole away around the corner where she couldn’t see me, and I performed the task at hand. I have to tell you, it wasn’t easy. There is a lot of guilt associated with taking a child’s beloved lovey and then chopping it in half. It was as if I were pinpointing the moment wherein I set Lily off on a path of deviance. In the future, when she is just angry, robbing liquor stores and then setting them on fire, wearing severe eye liner at 9 am and only wearing black clothing that features zippers in odd places, she would blame this destructive lifestyle on having her mother hack her security blanket in half. Linus’s mom never did such a thing. She let him drag that long, blue blanket around everywhere. But not Lily’s mom. Lily’s mom stole her blanket right from her scrawny, little, eczema covered arms and then took a rotary cutter and destroyed the only item that Lily found comfort in, outside of her parent’s arms.

At 3:34, I cut it. And with that cut, my stomach churned a little. I actually felt queasy having done it. I was then worried that my trusty sewing machine would fail me and somehow destroy the blanket as I zig-zag stitched it. Luckily, everything went as planned and I emerged with two blankets, one was hidden and thrown down to the laundry, the other was handed to Lily.

I held my breath as she took possession of it. Would she notice the hemmed edge? The lighter weight? The guilt in my eyes? No, she happily took her Blankie and set off. Not even noticing it wasn’t dragging behind her on the ground. Whew. I managed to pull the wool over my toddlers eyes. At least for now. I thought I would rock Ella’s world when she realized there were actually two Chewys, but it didn’t. She studied the possibility of this being real, but now she just asks for a clean Chewy when hers is a little too ripe. So, now we have two beloved Blankies. Lily doesn’t seem to be spiraling downwards…yet. But, if she is ever in some sort of therapy, I’m sure this blanket-hacking will come up, along with gasps of shock.