Rearranging-The-Furniture: Power of a Blankie!

Our kids I must say have been overall pretty easy babies. Once I got over my anxiety of letting Eliana cry as a baby she was sleeping through the night at 2 months, and is my little sleeper who sleeps 12 hours at night and takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. Being even more laid back with Owen he didn't sleep through the night until about 4 months but he was also a breast fed baby. He sleeps 12 hours at night and takes 2 1-1/2 hour naps during the day. Neither one of them are thumb suckers or have been a fan of the binkie, and neither one of them particularly act like they "need" their blankie or any other security item. This week however I realized there is some power in the blankie!!!!

Eliana is old enough that she can request her blankie at bedtime. Her blankie is actually something that was handed down to us from some friends that gave us girl clothes. Its just a simple snugly pink and brown blankie with stripes on one side and monkeys on the other side. She always sleeps with it at nap time and bed time but doesn't freak out if it needs washed. I know if I needed to take it away from her she would still be ok, yet still prefers her blankie!

Owen is only 10 months old and an extremely "chill" baby. Nothing really bothers him or gets him to riled up. He is like his dad and just goes with the flow and is a happy guy! Knowing all this I was surprised to learn that he is actually attached to his blankie and I had no idea! We got Owen this really cozy blankie for Christmas that is blue and brown and all kinds of cozy! When he goes to bed for nap time or bed time he pulls it up to his face and snuggles it up, smiles, and goes to bed no problem. Saying all that he never has really seemed that attached. This week that blankie needed washed and I wasn't very quick to get the laundry done and back in rotation. Without thinking twice I gave Owen a different blanket while his was being washed. For those few days he didn't sleep very good, getting up every few hours at night, and not going to bed very well at nap time. I thought he was just teething and coming down with a little cold but once the blankie was washed I found out otherwise. The first time he got his blankie back his little eyes lit up. He pulled his blankie up to his face snuggled it up and went fast to sleep, not waking up until the next morning. The next day after getting his blankie back he took extra long naps and seemed like a completely different kid! I had no idea he was attached!!! I was blindsided by the power of the blankie!

But isn't it true that we probably all have something that we like to snuggle up with and be cozy with? I have an extra cozy throw blanket that I might dare to call my "couch blankie". LOL!