Sweet Slumbers

One day after eating lunch, I looked over to find Mikie asleep in his high chair. I just had to snap a picture because even as a toddler I don't think this happened that often.

To nap or not to nap? That is the daily question at our house. Mikie NEEDS a nap everyday, but fights it so hard that it usually ends up being about 50% of the time that he does actually fall asleep. A couple of weeks ago, I went into his room to see if today would be a nap day and this is what I found:

He liked it down there so much, that now...we tuck him in on the floor for naps & bedtime and he has his own little slumber party with his dozens of stuffed animals. Now, all that his bed gets used for is a spring board for jumping off of.

This sweet picture of him sucking his thumb and holding his "bashi" made me realize just how much he has grown and how someday this will all be a memory that I have to get written on paper, so here goes:

My mom made several burp cloths when Mikie was first born. Who knew that a simple 6 x 12 inch rectangle of blue and white gingham material would become as valuable as air itself. I carried them around on my shoulder constantly. At about 2 months, Mikie loved to grab onto them and they quickly became his blankies. My mom added a loop of ribbon to each one that said "Jesus Loves Me". This served a dual purpose: Mikie loved the tags and I used the loop to attach the blankies with boomerings to the stroller or bijorn.

This is one of the very first pictures I have of him sucking his thumb. He is about 3 1/2 months here. He discovered the wonderful appendage while we were visiting my parents' farm in April and began sleeping through the night (for the most part). What follows are a few photos of my favorite thumb sucking pictures:

I was trying to take his 4 month pictures next to Eeyore when the urge to suck just became so overwhelming he simply had to get his fix right away. I love how he his trying to hide behind Eeyore (as if I wouldn't notice!).

THIS ONE IS MY ALL TIME FAVORITE! If you enlarge the picture, you'll notice that he has ahold of my hair with the same hand he's sucking (which has always been his left hand). Mikie would do this a lot if he didn't have a blankie to hold. I LOVED IT! He's 6 months old in this picture.

Here's a picture of our trip across the country on our move to Washington in August 2005. We were planning on driving late into the night so we pulled over to change him into his jammies and read him his bedtime stories.

Mikie's about 9 months old and sleeping soundly in his crib that finally arrived in WA after being in a pack n play for almost 4 months. It was right around this time that I restricted his blankie to his crib and the car seat. Thankfully he would only suck his thumb whenever he had the blankie (or when he was REALLY tired and could grab anything else that was soft: see below:).

We were on a short hike on the Olympic Peninsula in WA and didn't grab his "bashi". As you can see, Daddy's shirt collar works just as well. It was somewhere around 14 months when he started calling his blankie: "Bashi" (pronounced like the Kashi cereal). To this day he still calls it his bashi. At age 3, Bashi wasn't allowed in the car any longer and to our amazement, Mikie didn't fuss about it at all. This year when he turned 4, bashi was banished to the closet during the day and only comes out for nap and bedtime. This has caused an uproar as his little brother still has his and I think it's a constant reminder to Mikie that his is put away.

I'm so dissapointed: I've looked through all my pictures and cannot find any good ones of him with his "bashi" as a little baby. I do have a professional collage that is hanging on my wall of pictures taken when he was 5 months old and there is one of him sucking his thumb holding his bashi.

Zachary

When Zachary was born, my mom made another set of burp cloths that also became Zachary's blankies. His are white with blue stars and light blue ribbons that say "It's a boy". He is attached to his blankies, but has never sucked his thumb; therefore, he has not had as many restrictions put on his blankie time and pretty much gets it whenever/where ever he wants. At about 16 months, he started calling his blankie "Be Be"

Cuddling with his Be Be while watching the fireworks on the weekend before the 4th of July.

Be Be even goes to the beach!

Whenever we lay Zach down in his crib, he scoots himself up into the corner and lays sideways in his bed. He must feel more secure all tucked into the side of his crib with the bumper pads around him. For awhile I did worry about him suffocating against the bumper pads, but couldn't bring myself to take them away because his head would then be squished up against the wooden slats. Now, you can see from the picture below that he still sleeps sideways in his crib even though he has clearly outgrown that position.

So there you have it: A BASHI and a BE BE have become part of our family. They have magical powers that dry up tears, stop loud screaming and fussing, are fun to play peek-a-boo with, are great for wiping noses when you don't have a tissue handy, and make the world a lot less of a scary place when you're separated from mommy and daddy. But most of all, the magical BASHI and BE BE bring my boys comfort, security, happiness, and....................... SLEEP!!!!!!!!!! Someday, when my boys are grown and have moved away, Bashi and Be Be will once again wipe away tears...... mine.