Three Kids - Three Loves

Way back in 2004, when Derrick and my parenting skills were pretty green, someone suggested to us that Scott needed some sort of "lovie." We sifted through our small pile of stuffed animals and found a really cute teddy bear that we promptly named Bob the Bear and put it in his crib. He was really happy with it and all was well in our house.

A few days later, another suggestion came thorough that it may be a good idea to have two such friends, so one could be washed while the other comfort. The selection was more limited, but we found an alternate animal that was about the same size as Bob. The animal was a pig that looked more like a bunny rabbit and was an interesting shape. Guess which one he latched onto and which one was rejected! Yep, the Pig that we named Piggy became his favorite.


(Here is a picture of piggy when he was still pink and new. His fur looks nothing like this now.)

About nine months later, Scott (age 12 months or so) announced to us that the animal's name was Cici. Cici has been a major part of our family since, even appearing in our Christmas card photo one year.



Fast forward 18 months and Andrew arrived. Thinking we knew what we were doing, we gave him every animal from the basket, but he loved none of them. Instead, he found a blanket that he loved, and we called it "Andrew's blanket." Sure enough, 9 months later, Andrew announced that his blanket was also named "Cici." Well, that sure makes things easy when we head to bed - "Does everyone have your Cicis?" is a common question around here.



The only problem with this "one friend" situation is that we often have a child crying at our washing maching, desperately watching the window to see Cici floating through the cycle. It isn't such a problem any more, but was certainly awful when we had to wash bedding in the middle of the night.

So here we are in December 2009 and our little Amanda has no stuffed animal or blanket to declare as her love. Instead, she LOVES her pacifier. She is our first pacifier child and probably loves it so much because I was determined not to have another thumb sucker. The best thing about this love is we have about 10 pacifiers around the house. It doesn't matter if one goes in the wash - there is always another around.

Two days ago, Amanda spied a paci on the floor and started saying "a oh, a oh, a oh." Thus, she has named the paci "a oh." If you ask where her "a oh" is, she will look for it. If you ask her to pick her "a oh" off the floor, she goes right to it.

So, now we have two Cicis and an a-oh to make sure to pack on our next vacation. These are the kinds of things you just don't leave home without.