As for today's post.....we have a little boy who has hit the wonderful age of 18 months. I wonder if this is as exciting for people who aren't members of the church. haha Brandon has been going to nursery for the past two weeks, and I stay with him for the first hour, then leave him for the second. He seems to do OK, but when he realizes that I am gone he is a little shaken up. He will adjust quickly though I am sure, and Steve and I are very excited to have peaceful Sunday meetings again.
So, Brandon is my only child who has had a blanket that he sleeps with. The funny thing is I kind of gave it to him as an experiment. Part of it was that we were moving and he was sleeping in a different bed every couple of weeks, and I wanted to give him the blanket so he would have something to let him know it was time to go to sleep. But a bigger part was for my experiment. I always hear Mom's say their kids are so attached to a blanket or stuffed toy or something and I was always curious how the kid got that way. Was it the kids choice or the parents? Meaning, did the Mom just give the baby the same blanket or whatever every time she put the baby to bed so after a while the baby started to think that was part of sleeping, or did the baby choose the same toy every time. Well, the conclusion to my experiment is the first scenerio. I think some kids may like to have a certain feel of blanket by their own choice or they may like to sleep with a stuffed toy in their bed, but I definitely think the attachment to a specific item comes from the parents giving it to them enough times that they become attached. And now that I have a baby attached to a specific item, I kind of wonder why do Mom's do this? If you rotate blankets every week or whatever, you would never have this problem of searching for a certain blanket all the time. I want to know what you all think of this experiment, so let me have it!
Now, back to Brandon. He is attached to a red blanket that my sister Laura made for him when he was born. He has to have it to go to sleep and he is always holding it when I go in to get him from bed.
It usually stays in the house with us though, so no dragging through mud puddles or anything. I have to draw the line somewhere. This blanket even has a name (don't all attachment blankets). It is called the TT-Ma blanket which comes from a whole other story. I will make it quick. When we flew from Germany to VA last year, we were headed home and were stuck in the airport for like 5 hours before we got on a short connecting flight before getting on a 7 hour flight to Germany. Brandon was 3 months old at the time, and about the time we got on the airplane he decided he was sick of being in my arms. He started crying loudly and wouldn't stop no matter what I did. This was within minutes of us sitting down. Well, after I tried to quiet him for 10 minutes, this lady next to me asked if I wanted her to hold him. I said "sure", thinking I could save myself some embarrassment if she were the one holding the screaming baby. Well, she started singing him this song, close to his ear, while she shook him softly up and down. It was a song she had made up for her son and it said:
"Somebody's so tired, Somebody's so tired
TT-Ma TT-Ma, TT-Ma
Somebody's so tired, Somebody's so tired
TT-Ma TT-Ma, TT-Ma
It had a really catchy tune and she said the "t" sound made the baby be quiet and listen. And sure enough she had Brandon asleep within a couple of minutes and he stayed with her the whole 45 minute flight sleeping. So....we adopted that song for him and used to sing it to him all the time. Now we just use the phrase TT-Ma for bed like, "Are you ready to go TT-Ma" and he thinks we are talking about his blanket so he will got get it or show it to us whenever we say that. If that lady only knew what her little song has turned in to at our house.
I have a video of Steve singing the TT-Ma song, but he is going to have to help me find that as well.
Sleeping with Daddy and the TT-Ma blanket
Getting the blanket from the dryer! Oh Happy Day
And here are some of Brandon's new words, so we can remember when he is all grown up. :)
9 comments:
Aiden is attached to his nappy dog and I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love it because if we are somewhere new he seems very comfortable when he goes to sleep because his little friend is there. But I hate it because he always has to have it with him. It really hasn't been a big deal, so I'm not totally against attachment items. We'll see what Anne does...
Also, let me adjust the number two picture before you put it on your blog, it will look much better- and I can laser the tatoos off your boys. Ha ha!
He is sooo cute! My boys were never attached to one thing. It changed every night. I don't know which is better, knowing exactly what they need for comfort or trying to figure out what it is they are wanting to sleep with!?!
He is so adorable. I have also had questions about attachment items. None of mine have ever been attached to anything although I have really tried with a few of them. Hmmmm......
Oh my gosh I miss him soooo much!!! What an adorable video! And you already know about my kids and their attachment to their blankie and passey. And thoughts on how to get rid of the passey? Not sure my patience or sanity could do cold turkey, esp. with a new baby.
I agree with your theory. I think parents do kind of push the "comfort item". And I also agree with Sarah. It's nice to be away, and because they are handed a blanket or whatever, they know it's time to go to sleep.
I will forever hate myself over Brandon's blanket. I have already played it out in my head how I will apologize to him later in life. If he was going to be attached to something, why couldn't it have been something cute??????????
How cute is that little boy!! He's soooo Allred, and soooo adorable. It is kind of cute that he loves his blankie so much, but I imagine it does get annoying to keep track of it all the time. Funny thing, I found a silky blanket that I bought not long ago, just knowing Spencer would LOVE it. And he does! Unconsciously, over the past few weeks, I've been "pushing" an attachment, because it's so cute to see him all cuddled up to it. I guess I'll rethink that one! hah!
We loved the pictures and video of Brandon! What a cute boy. He sounds just like Ava in the video except he has a whiney "no" and she has a violent, mean "no". Ava also loves her blanket from Laura. I love it too.
Ahh. Big boy! I remember that blanket!
I totally pushed the attachment to Williams "night-night" blanket. Once he finally noticed it/got attached is when he FINALLY started sleeping through the night. He wakes up if he can't find it. Fortunately, it's a household item too. It only comes out and about if we're gonna miss a nap.
Miss you guys! N just pointed out that it's been a year already!
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