Written by Lily

George and Banky- these are my daughter’s comfort items. They have been loved to death….. and then some. Nowadays, they stay at home and await their acknowledgment at bedtime. There was a time when they used to accompany us everywhere.

Banky was a gift when she was an infant. The blanket had a hypnotic affect, she rubbed her face into it while I rocked her to sleep. As she grew, she loved to rub the nap between her fingers as she nodded off. When she was a toddler I purchased a wonderfully soft Winnie-The-Pooh blanket. The nap was rich and thick, I thought she would love it. Her face lit up, for about five seconds. Then, I watched as her mind flashed that she already had a blanket – “her blanket”. She looked at me, said “no“, dropped it on the floor and never looked back. She loved banky so much that she never wanted to be covered with anything else. When she got past the age for warm sleepers, I solved that dilemma by getting her excited about a quilt I made especially for her. She agreed that she and banky would enjoy sleeping under it together. My favorite memory is how she ”hid kisses” deep inside her blanket, to have them close to her while she slept. It was the most precious thing when she held up her hand for extra kisses as I told her goodnight. She was around two when she grabbed Curious George off the shelf. I was surprised when he was given the honor of being carried in her blanket to become her constant companion. Like a lot of moms, part of my mind was always keeping track of these priceless treasures. The loss would have been devastating.

As she got older, I started weaning her away by saying “they will wait for us in the car”. After she forgot to bring them along a few times, I started saying “they will wait for us at home”. They accompany her to overnights at Grandma’s house, but I can’t remember the last time she took them anywhere.

They have survived and are still loved, in spite of their unexpected hardships. My little one was about two when she was ill and threw-up all over her blanket. There was a ton of snow outside and I had no washer/dryer. She was really sick and had a high fever. I washed it the sink and then wondered how it would ever dry. The hairdryer would have taken forever so I decided to try to microwave it a little. I had never attempted to dry anything that way before. I knew with my daughter feeling so bad that she would want her blanket. The first two times were fine. I pushed it by doing it once more and melted a hole straight through the folds. Six melted, stinky holes with uneven and crispy edges. I felt so rotten, I had mutilated my daughter’s best friend. I pulled out the sewing machine and performed a transfusion using the shunned Winnie-The-Pooh blanket. As I explained to her what had happened, I was happily surprised that she didn’t care about sudden change in banky’s appearance. It was still her blanket.

Poor George. He never had any problems until I brought our puppy home a year ago. The puppy is a spastic craze of love for my daughter. When we are outside, he cannot stand it if she is away from him. He wants to be by her side to protect her from whatever danger he thinks may be lurking. He does not understand how I can allow her to bike up and down the street and becomes a stressed out little mess.

The pup has it out for George. It’s pure jealousy that drives him to find George- and attempt to rip his face and hands right off. George is only safe up high and out of his reach. Throughout the puppy’s chewing phase, we watched out for anything he might find. It was a surprise when he started targeting George. I have sewn and sewn on George. My daughter’s first job upon awakening is to put George on the dresser. In spite of our efforts, the pup never misses an opportunity. He has been known to sneak in my daughter’s room to steal George as my daughter sleeps. George is currently in need of another repair. It’s so sweet that my daughter loves these friends whether they are damaged or not. It doesn’t matter to her, they are her Banky and George.

I would love to hear what others have done and how they dealt with the items to which children can be so attached. Did you or your children have a blanket or fuzzy friend they took everywhere?

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