One of these days your little one will begin to develop a particular affinity for some blanket, toy or stuffed animal. This will be his comfort, his companion, his world! Unfortunately, the time will come when the item of your little Linus’s affection will need to be washed, or worse yet it might get lost and need to be replaced. This is a delicate operation, but I have an idea to help you get through it unscathed, and that is my Tripi’s Tip of the Day!
To help your little one adjust to a new, or new-looking-and-smelling security item: Keep a supply of lovey-doubles!
Lovey-doubles are like body doubles but they are extra copies of the item your little kangaroo needs to feel safe and secure. The moment your son begins wanting to drag his blankie everywhere with him, go out and purchased three more just like it.
Then, every few nights, after he has gone to sleep tip toe into his room and switch out the blankie for another one of the doubles. Now you can wash the one you swiped and add it to the pile that are waiting to stand in. This way, if you ever lose one, or one gets ruined in some terrible juice-accident, you are not left with a terrified and emotionally scarred little boy.
When the time comes, your little guy will be able to let blankie stay home more easily, because he has never has his faith it it’s ability to last through anything shaken. Also, if you want to use one for decorating a scrap book later on, you won’t feel like you are betraying him if you take one to cut up.
I got lucky in this way. My son likes silky tags. Tags on shirts, hats, stuffed animals and blankies. Tags, just as long as they are silky, soothe him like nothing else in the world. I was all prepared with the teddy I wanted him to bond with picked out, and a store where I could order more of them lined up, but there is no accounting for taste. Hopefully you will be more lucky than I was and your little fella will bond to something cute like a dog shaped stuffie, and you can have three or four cute stuffed animals rotating through your child’s arms. I on the other hand have to explain to people why my boy likes to carry his dad’s t-shirts around. Happy parenting!
