Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A Question For You Regarding Baby Blankets

This is Laylah's beloved baby blanket. It was made by her Grandma Collette with love, and has slept with her nearly every night since she was born. It used to be beautiful and bright, but through so many washings, it has since been left faded, old, worn, ragged, and full of holes. That doesn't in any way diminish Laylah's adoration for it, however. It will be 9 years old come May.

Andy has set a rule that it is not to leave her bedroom (and this is not just a rule for Laylah, but all of our children). He and I have differing opinions on this matter, because I myself had a "lovie" as a kid. I would take it around the house, play with it, wrap up in it to watch TV, and so on. I loved my baby blanket.

I don't mind if the kids have them out and are using them, but I don't want them left out, and I expect them to be put away when the kids are finished using them or playing with them. However, we had a little incident a few weeks ago that has me wondering if Andy has been right all along...

It all started while I was cleaning the kitchen one Saturday afternoon. I heard Magnus upstairs coughing and gagging. I ran up there as fast as I could where I saw Laylah patting him on the back. I did a quick finger sweep of his mouth and came up with nothing. He seemed to be fine, so I went back to what I was doing. All throughout the rest of the day, M would randomly start crying and gag or cough and then seem to be okay. It was really strange.

Later that evening, we were eating dinner and M would continue his strange behavior of eating a few bites and then gag a bit, or cough. I kept checking his mouth but I could never find anything. It was starting to unnerve me and I wondered what could possibly be wrong with him. He finished his dinner and went upstairs to play with the girls. I was still in the kitchen when I heard him gag yet again and then Laylah called down the stairs, "Magnus threw-up on the floor!" Andy was up there, so I waited for him to take care of it (tee hee). A little while later, he came down with a towel and showed me what was inside. It was part of Magnus' dinner (completely undigested, like it had looked on his plate) along with a piece of Laylah's baby blanket!!

It has been slowly falling apart for years, and sometimes thin strips of material will just peel off of the blanket and I will find them around the house on the floor. Apparently, Magnus found a piece too. And he ate it. It must have been lodged in his throat for most of the day, blocking food, or anything else for that matter, from going down. And he finally got it out. Yuck. But at the same time, Phew.

After Andy told his mom about it, she volunteered to make Laylah a new blanket. Andy told her that we'd probably throw her old one away, which made her incredibly sad. She is very attached, and like I said, sleeps with it every night. It made me sad too! I have a lot of memories associated with that old thing and I would hate to see it go. It's still up for debate in our house. Which is where you come in...

Should the blanket be allowed to stay? Or should we get rid of it? Any other ideas on what could be done with it?

Do any of your children have blankets or other lovies they are attached to? How do you handle it? (ie. going out in public with it, making them keep them it in their bed, only allowed to have them around the house, etc)

12 comments:

Miranda said...

What about framing a piece of it in a cute wooden frame to hang in her room? I'm pretty sure not much else is safe at this point-fabric isn't made to last forever!

Sarah said...

That is a fabulous idea Miranda!

Tara and David said...

Miranda beat me too the punch...I was thinking the same thing.

Ashlie said...

I like the idea of framing it. Our rule is they can have it around the house but it does not got out of the house at all....too germy for me:o)

Ashlie said...

I like the idea of framing it. Our rule is they can have it around the house but it does not got out of the house at all....too germy for me:o)

Ashlie said...

I like the idea of framing it. Our rule is they can have it around the house but it does not got out of the house at all....too germy for me:o)

Chillygator said...

Framing sounds so cute!

I went through A LOT of "blankies" growing up, so when one would start to fall apart, I'd stick it in my hope chest and get a new one. I still have a special blanket because I prefer to use a blanket in the place of a pillow, but I replace it about every two years...less sentimental (o:

If you do frame it, orsomething equally cute, post pictures!

Sarah said...

Kristy-If I do something cute like, that I'll definitely brag about it :)

Mrs.Spy said...

If there are some decent or even half decent pieces of fabric, even only a few inches or so that you can cut out, ill bet your mom could incorporate them into the new blanket.
My kids didn't have blanket lovies but oh, how they loved dirty, sticky, nasty old pacifiers.

Mrs.Spy said...

If there are some decent or even half decent pieces of fabric, even only a few inches or so that you can cut out, ill bet your mom could incorporate them into the new blanket.
My kids didn't have blanket lovies but oh, how they loved dirty, sticky, nasty old pacifiers.

amberkei said...

Some of our kids have animals/blankets that they love and some don't. The general rule is they stay in their beds after 3 years old. (Paige can still drag hers around) I don't make a big deal about them since they're not where I can see them, but I hated before we had the rule and I was always finding them and putting them away. I cannot believe he swallowed a piece - that's freaky! I hope everyone can be happy with the new family decision!! Good luck!

Jasmyn said...

WOW - good thing he threw it back up! I'm looking forward to stuff like that around here once Andrew starts crawling. :) I vote for framing it or maybe cutting out the best parts and incorporating them into the new blanket (if anything is salvegable! However the heck you spell that...)