Kids choose their comfort items...and no matter how you try to guide it, it rarely turns out to be what you want them to have. I wanted Madison to have a bear or something, she chose my hair. She liked how it felt in her hands. Made for tough transitioning for putting herself to bed on her own, but she finally did it. Sydney chose a blanket, and it was completely by accident. She had a small “lovie” and it got left at home one trip into town to the new Target... turns out she couldn’t sleep without it, so while she was fussing we walked through the baby aisle in search for a replacement lovie. When we couldn’t find one, we settled for the same material in a bigger super soft blanket instead of a lovie. She loved it and fell asleep and that was that. It’s still in her room, she’s going to have grandma make it into a coat for college, kind of like Linus.
Bradley is a little tougher. We thought he had a comfort toy in Scout, a V-Tech dog that said his name. Only he rolled down his window and dropped him out before I knew it when we left Balboa in San Diego headed home to Camarillo. Bye-bye Scout. Sometimes he likes my hair to paint or tickle his fingers. Or, he wants to run his fingertips against the palm of someone’s hand. Those are big sensory points for him. After Dad has a haircut, Bradley loves to run his hand up and down the back of Dad’s hair; I can’t blame him, it’s a favorite for me too. And the least comfortable comfort move by Bradley happens when he’s tired and sitting with Dad, he likes to rub his hands over dad’s eyebrows. Eric can see nothing and it certainly gets annoying pretty quickly, but he’s a pretty patient guy when it comes to Bradley and he’ll give him space and time, before it finally drives him crazy and he’ll adjust him to keep him away from his eyebrows and onto fingertip tickling instead.
We have a weighted blanket for Bradley too. He used to ignore it; but now, he uses it every night to settle him down and help him sleep. When I get up with him at night, he climbs back into bed and lies back on his pillow, and before I can ask him if he wants his blanket, he’s already pointing to it. He gets it back, he snuggles under it and goes back to sleep again (usually). I am considering getting him this new sensory sheet that is being reviewed as even better than a weighted blanket. We’ll see. Changes have to be considered closely before we do it, so we’ll see.
Everyone needs their comfort. There is something for everyone and having spent so long wishing one kid would choose one thing and then one kid would let go of another...we have decided it is best to just let the littles; and not so littles anymore, guide the path to the comfort they need and as long as they aren’t hurting themselves or anyone else - we leave them be, and that’ll probably just be the roadmap we follow. Considering how great these kids truly are, we’re okay with this plan.
Been a long day for doctor visits for Sydney today, so time to settle the house and prep Bradley’s day for tomorrow. But we now have two girlies in the house with braces free, beautiful smiles - and that’s awesome!
31 For 21 Blog Challenge, comfort is necessary - doesn’t matter how many chromosomes you have.
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