Lambies
Before Tacy was born, my aunt Linda and my cousin Erin came to visit us in New York during my cousin’s spring break. My cousin’s birthday was that Friday during their visit, which was also the same day that I was 41 weeks pregnant, and I spent much of the day hooked up to the monitor in labor and delivery as the doctors tried to decide whether this baby needed to come out sooner rather than later.
While I was languishing in L&D, Linda and Erin went to Saks, where they bought a Ralph Lauren baby outfit with matching receiving blanket and a Comfy Cozy Lamb. I laundered the outfit - like all new mothers do - and draped the lamb over the side of the cradle to await Tacy’s arrival.
Obviously, as a newborn, Tacy couldn’t have cared less about the lamb. All she wanted was…well, who the hell knew what she wanted, but it wasn’t the lamb.
But as she grew, she began to notice the soft, cuddly lamb draped over the side of her cradle. She would stroke it as she slept (finally, she slept in the cradle…finally), and as she approached the six-month milestone, she would clutch it and pull it into the crib with her. The lamb became an essential part of her bedtime and naptime routines.
Once she began to talk, she let us know that the lamb’s presence was required in just about every situation. The lamb came to school, to the grocery store, to the mall, to museums, to restaurants, and most especially, to the doctor’s office. Not only did we have to remember to bring the lamb WITH US, we had to remember to bring the lamb HOME. At one point, we left the lamb in a vehicle on display at the Saturn dealership in Hackensack. Oops. Since neither of us felt up to braving the traffic on Rt 4 on a weeknight, purely for the sake of retrieving the lamb, we waited until the following weekend. That was one stressful week, for all of us.
Erin came to visit us for a couple weeks during the summer when I was only a few months pregnant with CJ. She brought with her a present for CJ - another lamb, identical to Tacy’s. By this point, Tacy’s lamb was worn from being washed and dried (thankfully, she never objected to our insistence that every so often, Lambie “needed a bath”), not to mention all of the dragging around that Lambie had endured. I knew that if Tacy got a look at CJ’s present, she would want to claim it as her own, so I hid CJ’s lamb in a box on the top shelf of Tacy’s closet.
After CJ was born, I brought out the second Lambie for her. Just as Tacy ignored her lamb as a newborn, neither was CJ particularly interested. But just as Tacy grew to be extremely fond of her lamb, CJ has become quite attached to hers. While Tacy preferred (and still does) to stroke the soft, velvety underside of her lamb, CJ gnaws on the ears and tail of her lamb. Both girls hold the lamb in one hand while sucking the thumb on the opposite hand. And holding their lambs brings undeniable comfort to both girls.
Tacy understands that Lambie can no longer come out in public with us and that at school, Lambie needs to stay in her cubby until naptime. Meanwhile, CJ is still young enough that we will bring her Lambie along when we go out, and she is still allowed to drag Lambie around the room at school throughout the day.
I used to work with a woman who still slept with her childhood security blanket. She even brought it on business trips. Not only did she admit this to me, but when we were both in LA on business, I came to her hotel room to pick her up, and I saw the blanket myself. While I’m certainly in favor of comfort objects, I think it might be going a LITTLE too far when a woman in her late twenties drags a mangy old afghan into a swanky Santa Monica hotel.
Then again, who knows what sort of challenges we - my girls, their Lambies, Kyle and I - will face in the coming years. Slumber parties, summer camps, even simple one-girl sleepovers - will Lambie be invited? Or even accepted, however grudgingly? Or will Lambie get soaked in water and thrown in the freezer…or run up to the top of the flagpole…or adopted by the hosts’ new puppy as a chew toy? Will we allow the girls to bring along their Lambies and let peer pressure take care of the inevitable exorcism, or will we attempt to cut the cord ourselves, with more love and compassion than little girls (or even other adults) might show?
These questions are made even more difficult by the fact that WE are attached to these comfort objects ourselves. More often than not, we’re the ones who make sure that the Lambies are rounded up at night and sent to the appropriate bedrooms. I’m actually PROUD of the fact that Tacy’s Lambie is the original one - the one that Linda and Erin bought for her nearly four years ago - that we haven’t had to replace it with a facsimile at some point along the way.
I suppose my ultimate hope is that the Lambies will be retired with dignity, on the girls’ own terms, and surrendered to me to be lovingly placed in keepsake boxes for the girls to have when they leave home. And if the girls don’t want to take their Lambies, that’s okay too. Those Lambies will always have a home right here.
January 5th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
That’s so weird that you mentioned that woman with her security blanket. I just posted about how I still bring mine out at night. At least I didn’t take it with me on the honeymoon!
Gage has his own too, but he prefers stroking the ears of his Pluto toy.
January 5th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Precious little babies, by the way. Dumplings!
January 6th, 2006 at 5:17 am
Gorgeous pictures!
Son has a small stuffed Clifford toy that I bought right after his first Valentine’s day (we call it “Pup”). Just like your girls, he ignored it for about a year, and then picked it up and has had it with him ever since. He used to stroke Pup’s ears while he had his nighttime bottle. He still sleeps with Pup and two Carter’s receiving blankets, and he’s six! He will take them to Gramma’s house, but when he took them to a sleepover he got picked on…
But if it makes you feel better, my niece and nephew (16 and 14) still sleep with their blankets.
I don’t think security items are a big deal; there are probably more teenagers out there than we know who still sleep with a lovey.
Mine was a “Baby Beans” doll. Beanie was at my wedding (don’t ask) and now she has a special drawer in my dresser. I managed to find an identical on for Daughter on ebay, but she likes her “bwanket” and four beanie babies (two cats, two monkeys) better.
January 6th, 2006 at 6:36 am
I love the pics of your girls with their lambies. Neither of our girls have gotten attached to one object (although Big-A was really into her Curious George until she turned about 2 1/2). My brother still has his stuffed Winnie the Pooh from his infancy — I don’t think he sleeps with it though.
January 6th, 2006 at 7:24 am
Makes me think of the Veleteen Bunny, too, and the correlation of the way the lamb is loved and becomes (a) real (part of) life.
Hh
January 6th, 2006 at 9:05 am
My dad (mr. sentimentality) still have the scraps of all the blankies that lived in our house. My sister’s started out as a large, beautiful angora blanket and eventually became nothing but a small tangle of threads, but Dad still has it somewhere.
No loveys for my kids yet — except J’s bellybutton!
January 6th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Aw, I think that is such a cute story about the lambies. Regardless of whether or not they give them up at some point, those lambies will always be something that has sentimental value to them, and since they both have them, the girls will have something special they share together.
Dylan goes through stages on which member of his cast of characters he can’t live without. Holly has her lovey, but it stays in her crib. Her lovey is that little blanket thing with a head on it.
Stacey
January 6th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Such a sweet post and something I hadn’t thought of in years. Your post brings home the idea that becoming a parent really does allow you an opportunity to look back at childhood experiences from a whole new perspective. I can’t wait.
January 6th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Great post, especially at the end where you wonder about the future of the lambies; and that you will always keep them if the girls don’t.
My kids haven’t latched onto any objects yet. Maybe they haven’t found the right one. However, the Branch does get a bit cozy with his comforter from time to time. He just sticks his face it in it and goes “GEEEEEE”.
January 6th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
My “banky” still ives in my mother’s house…somewhere tucked away.
Em had “baby-baby”. We also have made additional trips to recover “baby-baby” from whence she had been. Emily licked, sucked and gnawed on poor “Baby-Baby” ~ until baby-baby had been so sewed in the facial area that she looked like Frankenstein’s vision of Baby Baby.
Fearing the horrid backlash from the rapid disintergration of baby-baby, I tracked down an identical one - long discintinued from Discovery Toys, that one dealer had at the back of her closet.
Baby-Baby was joined by Baby-Baby-Baby-Baby, who got a bite hole about an hour later. I asked why and Em said “So I can honor her!”
(Honestly - we can all have conversations about Baby Baby and not Baby Baby Baby Baby…)
About a year ago, Emily put the Baby-Baby girls away.The stay in a special spot. I catch her sniffing them ( she says they smell right) and know that she will always love the Baby’s, but she is changing.
I think it’s harder for the Mom, Julie.
January 6th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
How sweet. My kids never had anything like this, but my niece had an LSU football player doll that she carreid around EVERYWHERE and slept with and it was so beat up, it was pitiful. she finally retired it (she’s 9 now) . . but I’m sure it’s still hanging around somewhere.
January 6th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
umm.
i still sleep with my lambie pie.
not in my arms but under my pillow.
he has no more stuffing so i can fold him into a neat square.
i like to touch his ear. still. in my thirties. i brought him to college and on my honeymoon.
at this point in life though, he has become sort of a good luck charm, rather than a comfort object.
i think my lasting attachment to him was brought on a little by the fact that my grandparents were so dead set on me giving him up. they even told me they were going to take him when i was sleeping and cut him up and sew him into a pillow. that was like 25 years ago and i’m getting panicky just writing it.
anyway, i certainly have my share of issues, but i don’t think any of them came from having lambie too long. i think.
January 6th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
So sweet. Great post. I’ve been percolating a post about the Bird’s lovey for some time. Maybe I’ll get that one out of the hopper.
Damn, those are some cute babies. De-lish!
January 6th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
Ooooh…I knew I was going to find out that someone out there still slept with their blankie - but I didn’t know I’d find TWO of you! Beth and Melany, I do hope you didn’t take offense, as none was intended. We all have our quirks. I won’t tease about your blankies if you don’t tease me about my multitude of weirdnesses.
January 6th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
I LOVE the pictures of your sweet baby girls! My boys each had a Carter’s receiving blanket that they slept with; Ryan’s ended up a small shredded square. Nathan sleeps with a small stuffed tiger called Tiger. When he gets a new stuffed animal he introduces it to Tiger and says it can be Tiger’s new friend. I hope he keeps him forever.
January 7th, 2006 at 11:57 am
I still have my “blankie”. It’s disgusting-stained, chewing gum stuck on it-but I would never part with it-It’s tucked into a bin somewhere in my basement. I don’t need to sleep with it, I just need it somewhere in the same house as me. I love it when kids are attached to blankets, stuffed animal, etc. Neither of my kids have a “blankie”…yet. And to tell you the truth I’m a little disappointed.
January 9th, 2006 at 8:34 am
I never had such an object (I can be REALLY unsentimental) but I had to check the comments to make sure that Beth and Sarah had owned up to their own lambie and blankie love.
The girls’ lambies looks so soft and cuddly. Now I kinda want one.
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:38 am
[…] yourself, check the Dirty Wow Wow contest page - I’ll be submitting an entry myself about how my girls’ Lambies have answered the philosophical question concerning the existence […]
June 11th, 2007 at 5:44 am
Hiya omg i just came across this by chance!! well funny i also have a lambie!! xxxx