Back in the day before Sophie knew that it was ok to sleep during the night (when she was like 6 or 7 months old) desperate, exhausted me asked her pediatrician for ANY tips to help. Aside from just letting her cry and figure it out, doc also recommended getting a little tiny blanket for her to sleep with. She told me to nurse with it and introduce it into our bedtime routine and NEVER wash it (unless she throws up on it or something equally really stinky) so that it smells like me and comfort and love and stuff. "The scientific name for this is a 'transitional object'" said Doc, "but really it's just a lovey"
Lucky for us I was given a cute little "transitional object" taggie blanket that a neighbor had made when Sophs was born. She never really took to it before but I never really tried hard to make her like it. So we tried all of the tips and they worked! Combined with letting her cry it out this blankie within a few days she was finally sleeping through the night! yay!
Sophie LOVES her blanket. She wouldn't even let us take non-screaming pictures without it during her 12 month photo shoot. She loves to have it covering her face while she's drinking her night time bottle and cuddles it on her face when she gets all snuggled into her bed to sleep. In fact, she now can't sleep without it! Which is fine...until we lose it!
And lose it we did. Right after Christmas. For 3 days I searched for it. I called grandparents (even though I was 99.9% sure it wasn't at their house) moved furniture, all but dumped out my diaper bag, searched the car, tore apart her bed, well you get the idea. And for 3 nights she woke up many many times sad and crying. I had given up on ever finding it. I had looked EVERYWHERE! So what does a desperate momma do? Probably should have weaned her off of it so that she could sleep by herself. but nope, the Saturday after Christmas I marched myself (well, actually I drove) down to Hobby Lobby and bought stuff to make a replacement. I had to go by memory and what they had available but I wanted to match it as exactly as possible, ya know, so I could fool her.
It wasn't too hard, except that the nice lady who made it picked the most slippery material when put together in the world and combine that with my crazy anal perfectionism you get 1 hour worth of pinning. But it was done and it looked pretty close to the original! I rubbed it all over my face and arms and then gave it to Soph when she woke up from her nap. She was really excited at first, then when she grabbed it she stopped and looked at kind of confused like, inspected it, and then gave a baby version of a shrug and walked off with it. And it worked at night! She slept great!
This all happened on Saturday, and on Sunday we were all sitting in sacrament meeting (church) and Conner couldn't find one of his toys and wanted me to help him. I dug through my bag and looked in all the pockets...and you'll never guess what I found. That dang blanket! Folded (I NEVER fold it)and tucked in bottom of and inside pocket (I never put it in pockets) covered by diapers. What! I was so mad I just started laughing. It was so ridiculous. I swear I tore that bag apart, but apparently not good enough. I gave it to Soph right then and there and she grabbed it and cuddled it to her face.
Left one is the copy I made, Right is the original. pretty close!
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| And...this is just a cute picture. |
