Laying Down the Law

When W was a baby, he refused to take a pacifier...instead, his means of comfort was his blanket, who became known in our house as "Blanket"....creative and ingenius, I know. Blanket was made for him before he was even born by my mother (with the help of my niece and nephew). W loved Blanket so much that Blanket began to get very worn and thin and to have very large holes in him...so, at 4 1/2 years old, Blanket needed to be "put to pasture", so to speak...So I made W a new blanket - this one had stuff from outerspace all over it, which I thought any 4 1/2 year old would love (actually, it was the closest thing I could find to Star Wars)...but I could see the apprehension in W's eyes as I showed him the new blanket and he touched it and we talked about putting Blanket away....so I tried to make myself think like W would think and I tried to conjure up in my head what types of fears or worries he might have about not having Blanket. That led to this conversation...

Me: "You know what, W? I'm going to let Blanket and new Blanket take a bath together and while they are in there, I bet Blanket will tell new Blanket every single thing he needs to know about how to be the best Blanket for you...I bet he'll tell him all of your secrets and your dreams and your favorite things...how about that?"

W: (After pausing to contemplate this...) "Okay, Mommy...because Blanket knows all of that stuff."

So we put them in the washing machine together and then in the dryer. I let W get them both out of the dryer, still warm. When he did, he hugged Blanket and told him goodbye and then told me to put him in his closet where he could see him...and then he ran off with new Blanket. We had absolutely no trouble transitioning...I was very thankful. Blanket was practically a member of our family.

Then, 6 months later (this being this past weekend), W informs me that new Blanket has a new name - "Ba Ba"...okay, son - whatever you want to name him is great, right? Nope, dear Hubby did not like the new name. He thought it sounded too much like a baby name and to him, it's bad enough that his now 5 year old son still loves his blanket so much, much less if the blanket has a baby name! So Hubby proceeded to try to suggest new names...Blanket 2, Deuce, anything that sounded remotely manly and not so much like baby talk...W wouldn't budge. It was his blanket and he was picking the name he liked. Hubby told him that was fine, but that he'd make fun of him for picking a baby name (I know, real mature and a stellar "Dad" moment, right?)...W looked at his dad, picked up his foot, raised his knee up as high as he could and then stomped it to the ground...and he said "I'M PUTTING MY FOOT DOWN...."

Alrighty, then..."Ba Ba" it is. Way to lay down the law, son. He must get that from his mother.