Where do blankies come from?

First of all, thanks to my dear friend for posting about her son's blankie. It got me inspired. Actually, I was contemplating this one yesterday and didn't think about blogging about it until I saw her blog today. Anyway. It's interesting to me how kids get attached to different things. In this case, a blanket. Both our girls have a serious attachment to a specific blankie. In both cases, the blanket was not originally intended for them. That's funny to me. It's nice that they find comfort in their blankets, though. I know I've posted these old pics before, but they really demonstrate how much my girls love their blankies.


Here is our B. This blanket is SO 80's!!! I know that, because it's the same blanket I had as a kid growing up in the 80's. I am told it was originally made for my sister, but I became attached. Particularly to the yarn. For some reason sucking my thumb and holding yarn between my nose and lip was very soothing. I could endure another blankie as long as it had the yarn. I no longer suck my thumb, but I still play with yarn on any kind of quilt like this - I usually don't even realize I'm doing it! My mom gave it to me after we had B and we took it with us to go camping since we didn't want to damage any of the BEAUTIFUL quilts that had been made for her by various aunts and grandma's. She took a liking to the yarn. Sound familiar? She was not a thumb sucker (didn't like binky's either) but she would lay there and run her hands over the yarn to go to sleep. It had to be laid completely flat on top of her, or she couldn't sleep. Slowly, however, the rather old yarn came out and she could not reach the yarn when it was laid out flat. This distressed her terribly. She also insisted on this being her only cover at night. My fellow villagers can attest to how cold those bedrooms are and will understand why I thought she would freeze, or at least wake up crying because she was cold. Blankie was rather threadbare. SO. Me, being the non-crafty type, went on a search. I found the same green gingham and the same blue yarn and spent hours making a new, MUCH thicker blankie. I sewed on twice as much yarn so that if she pulled some out it would still have some for her to play with as she went to sleep. (My mother thought it was hilarious that I was going to such efforts to make something that she made over 20 years ago.) I didn't use a quilt stand or anything, so it's not that great, but it was warm. However, B could tell the difference. She liked the idea of the new blankie, just not the new blankie itself. AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!!! I was a little frustrated. But by that time we were potty training. She had an accident on the old blankie. Unbeknownst to B, I threw the new quilt in the wash with the old one, and when I brought the blanket back from the drier, it was mysteriously different, although she could not put her finger on how. She was suspicious, but since her old blankie was nowhere to be found, she finally decided this new one was ok. She finally figured it out, but I kept telling her that her old one had pee on it, which she bought thank heavens. Now she loves having a blankie that mommy made. As you can see, she's not as concerned with it being laid flat, either.


Here we have little M - I love this pic of her! She would take this thing everywhere if I let her! She frequently climbs back into bed because that's where I try to leave the blankie and the binky. She cuddles this blankie more than she has ever (or probably will ever) cuddle either of her parents. Husband's mother actually crocheted this beautiful blanket when we had B. B did not care for it, so I put it carefully in a tupperware. I can't even remember why I got it out with M, but it was pretty much instant love. I love that "her" blankie was made by her grandma, even if it wasn't actually meant for her. Grandma worries sometimes that it won't hold up, but it has been through the washer and drier a lot and is still perfect.

I wonder now - what are your kids addicted to? Or what were you addicted to?