Thursday, September 11, 2008

Meera's Lovey

Kyle and Owen both have loveys (attachment objects). I've posted about this before. Kyle has had "Honey Bunny" since the first day we met him and gave it to him. Owen has "Lovey Lion" -- which he 'chose' as his lovey (i.e., began needing it to fall asleep and did not want to part with) since he was about 10 months old. Owen's is actually a giraffe, but we don't care-- we've always called it Lovey Lion and my guess is that we always will. When they started daycare, at age 12 months, I wanted to have loveys for them in their daycare cribs that we could just leave there (so that we wouldn't be constantly worrying about getting the loveys back-and-forth). We already had a second bunny (that was originally intended to be Owen's), so that was no problem for Kyle. But I went crazy trying to find an exact duplicate of Lovey Lion for Owen. But I did, and they eventually came to call their daycare loveys "Honey Bunny's Twin Brother" and "Lovey Lion's Twin Brother." When they stopped going to daycare, just after they turned 3, we brought their daycare loveys home. And since then, they have both slept with both of their loveys every night (and taken them everywhere we've travelled to, etc.). So... Kyle has "Honey Bunny and Honey Bunny's Twin Brother" and Owen has "Lovey Lion and Lovey Lion's Twin Brother." It was really important to all of us that Meera had a nice lovey to attach to. When I was pregnant we went to our favorite boutique shop in New Hope and we picked out Meera's lovey.... a beautiful soft white rabbit blankie thingy. Starting when she was around 2 months old I began placing the rabbit lovey blankie thingy right next to her face in her crib whenever she was going down for a nap or to sleep for the night. Right around when she was 12 weeks old I started to notice her falling in love with it. She would rub her face and hands on it, etc. And she'd smile and coo when she'd see it. I brought it with us when Meera and I went to New Hampshire for Karen's funeral. The rabbit gave Meera great delight and comfort on that trip. And it was right around then that I knew that Meera was really attaching to it. She now cuddles up to it when she sleeps in her crib. And she smiles and 'talks' to it often. And she loves to try to put the arms or ears of it into her mouth and chew on it. So, Meera has her own lovey. Kyle has named it "Fuzzy." Officially it is "Fuzzy Bunny" but we call it "Fuzzy" or "Fuzz Fuzz" for short. ;) We'll see what happens down the road, but just in case this really is it for Meera, I wanted to post these photos of Meera sleeping snuggled up with Fuzz Fuzz in her crib at age 3 months old.


8 comments:

Story of our Life said...

I think that is great. My childrenn really didn't have anything that they had to "attach" to like this. We tried pacifiers, silkies, ect et. My 9 yr old daughter loved "any baby doll" and that was reallly the good thing.

I do know from experience w/my aunts twins..and I'm sure you do to...to have a 2 or 3 of the same "lovey". LOL. The twins have their bear bunny blankies that I bought them that turned into their "blanket" they dress them, feed them, sleep w/them, diaper them, ect ect. When they were about 2 I went back to the store (Ben Franklin...not many of those around) and found them another one to have as a back up.

I love her bunny. It looks so soothing!

Anonymous said...

How sweet!! Do you have any pictures of the boys with their loveys?

I carefully chose loveys for my boys (silky blankets and soft toys), but neither of them ever got attached to any particular object. Now Pumpkin, my almost four year old, sleeps with his metal dyecast Lightning McQueen clutched in his fist...

glamah16 said...

So this is lovey. I remember you said one of the boys wanted Meera to be his Lovey.She's a doll to them. So cute.

Ani said...

She looks so peaceful and content.

Our son had his pacis, which he gave up easily (with some prodding on our part) when he turned 3, but his most favorite is his "yellow blanket". When he arrived we received tens of beautiful receiving blankets, but his favorite, which he attached to around age 1 is the oldest one in the bunch... it used to be MINE and was made by my dear Grandma.

He loves it, sleeps with it, cuddles with it and it travels with us. Unfortunately, there is no duplicate for "yellow blanket", so I'm VERY careful with it.

I love watching him cuddle to his favorite lovey, and I love that he treasures something I once treasured as well.

Unknown said...

what a sweet, sweet baby...

Anonymous said...

Awww how sweet. She looks so content.

My daughter never really attached to anything, but my son had up until he was about 5 years old and started Kindergarten when he decided that he was a big boy. My baby is now 14

His lovey was a baby blanket with a bear on it. I would tuck him in with it when he was 6 months old. He would carry it every where and always chewed on the corners. I remember going through a rough time when I had to wash it or sew it. He even named it "Baby" because at the time he wasn't able to say Blanket or Blankie.

I kept it for him and have it put away in the cedar chest for when he is off on his own.

Love & Hugs,
Claudia

kirbmom said...

My daughter had 2 lovies that she brought EVERYWHERE with us. One was a rabbit and the other a doll. She became incredibly attached to them at around 12 months. They came on every trip with us and went to preschool with her last year. The teachers allowed lovies as long as they didn't come out of the backpack.
She just turned 4 and has started to detach from them. She still sleeps with them in her room, but has moved them from the bed to the dresser. They have also started skipping vacations.
I have to admit that I'm a little sad to see the lovies going. It's just another sign that my first baby is really starting to grow up.
My twins haven't become attached to any lovies yet. It will be interesting to see if they do.
I love the pictures of Meera sleeping with her lovie. She's such a gorgeous baby.

Anonymous said...

HBJ,
What an adorable picture!!

Imogen also has a bunny lovey! She goes by Bunny, Bun Bun, or most recently, The Bunster. Last week Imogen proudly and confidently announced that she was never going to give up Bunny and she was going to take Bunny with her to high school!
xo jen