Our Special Everyday Moments: Too Sweet Not To Share

Neither one of my children ever did pacifiers beyond their first week or so, and having them sleep with blankets made me too nervous. But I needed SOMETHING that they would bond with to help them learn to sleep on their own and, especially, sleep in an unfamiliar environment, since we travel a lot. Heidi found and bonded with her Snuggle Bear and Jonah's lovey became a little brown rabbit named Hopalong that was a gift from his Uncle Delton. It took a while to get him to bond with Hopalong but today Jonah and I learned just how bonded they now are.

Jonah's diaper overflowed last night as it sometimes does so this morning all the bedding went into the wash, including Hopalong. We were out and about all morning until lunch time so I didn't have a chance to put it all into the dryer. We got home for lunch late so nap time was right after they finished eating. I knew Hopalong was still sitting in the wash but I was REALLY hoping Jonah wouldn't remember/mind/find something else to sleep with for his nap. Jonah is usually the easiest and first to put down for a nap. Heidi doesn't always sleep but as long as she stays in bed and doesn't make too much noise or disturb her brother I'm fine with it.

Well.

Let me just tell you that Jonah most definitely felt the absence of one little brown rabbit. He also sleeps with a pillow, a Buzz Lightyear doll, and a little dog named Copper.

(side note: if you are hoping to slim down the collection of stuffed animals your children accumulate, DON'T give names or allow the kids to give names to any more animals than are absolutely necessary!! Do you know how hard it is to give away stuffed animals that you can call by name??? I mean its hard for ME to do it even if the kids aren't there telling me who they want to keep!! Just FYI...)

Moving on...

After I left the room, I could hear Jonah bellyaching and carrying on and he was not happy about something. I walked back in there after a while and told him to hush and go to sleep. While in there, I noticed that the pillow, the dog and Buzz had all been chucked out of bed to the middle of the room. Jonah was making his displeasure known! I took pity on him and found a little bear that Nathan had given him that he loves to sleep with (alongside Hopalong) and tried to explain to him that I knew he wanted Hopalong but that Hopalong was taking a "bath" and wasn't dry yet. But that mommy would make sure he was dry by bedtime. He accepted my talk and the bear at first but was still carrying on and the next time I peeked into the room, the bear was chucked to the middle of the room, too. After about an hour of fussing and being upset he finally fell asleep but didn't take a very long nap and was VERY grumpy when he woke up.

Fast forward to after church, Jonah and Heidi were getting ready to head upstairs when I presented him with a now dry Hopalong! You've never seen a little boy be happier!!!