The Missing Blankey

When Eli was a baby he never took a pacifier and as he's gotten older he's never become attached to any stuffed animal. It's just his blankey that he can't live without. When I was weaning Eli, Matt found this soft, fleece-like "Lightning McQueen" blanket and Eli instantly took to it. When he sleeps he has to have the two silk tags in his hand. When he was younger, he would wake up in the middle of the night saying, "Where's my tags?" and I'd have to go into his room and give him his tags. He has slept with his blankey every night for the past two years...until last Saturday.

While Emily and I were at Monkey Cove with Girl Scouts, Matt, Alyssa, Michael, and Eli went to visit at Grandpa Calvin's house. Saturday night when we were putting Eli to bed, it was discovered that his blankey was missing. You guessed it...it was left at Grandpa's house which is an hour drive one-way. Eli didn't understand that part...he wanted to go to Grandpa's and get it right then. I told Eli we would find him something else to sleep with for one night and I took him into his closet. I got down some of his blankets from when he was born. Each one I showed him I got the same response, "That's for babies." Next I moved on to his pile of stuffed animals that he ignores. Each one of those I showed him I got the same response, "That's for girls." Finally I found the stuffed brown bear that he got on his first visit to the Omaha Zoo. He actually took it and hugged it. I thought, "Hmm, this might work." I covered him up, gave him his bear and as I turned out his light and walked out of his room I heard him say, "I don't want this" and then I heard "plop" and the bear hit the ground. The only thing that saved us that night was that Eli had a head cold and I had just given him medicine right before we discovered the missing blankey. If it hadn't been for his drug-induced sleep, we may have been up for a long night. On Sunday after church Matt went to his Dad's and retrieved the lost friend. When Matt returned with it, the look on Eli's face was pure happiness as he gave blankey a huge hug.