Winky!

Kara has decided to name her blankie: Winky.

Here is how different our two daughters are. Jana has gone through 3 different blankets - all of which she has been fairly attached to for a while. We have "little blankie," "soft blankie," and "square blankie". All of which have a story. Little Blankie was made/given to us by Lauriann, Mama's Godfather's wife (long story, but she essentially has become my Godmother over the many, many years she's been in my life). "Soft Blankie" was given to us by a friend of Grammy, but was brought out to be given to Kara. Jana promptly stole it and that was the end of that. "Square Blankie" is a handmade blanket from one of Mama's best friend's from high school. The one major issue with "Square Blankie" is that it sheds... a lot. It sheds these stupid sparkly fuzzies that get on everything.

Kara, after getting only hand me down blankets and getting a blanket stolen (soft blankie), one day adopted a blanket while at Grandma and Grandpa's house. While it too is a hand me down, it is a hand me down from Cousin Lindsay - who also happens to share Kara's birthday. Kara's attachment to this blanket has increase and surpassed any attachment we've seen to "lovies".

Last night we were eating a dinner of pasta and Kara managed to get her grubby, tomato-sauce-covered hands all over Winky. So, Winky needed a bath. She cried and cried as she stared at the washer, crying "Winky" with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Still crying, she stumbled out into the family room, continuing to call to poor Winky. She must have thought we were drowning him or something because her desperation was comical. Suddenly, silence. No more crying. I step out of the laundry room and see Jana hugging Kara, kissing her on the head, and being so incredibly sweet - sweet enough to almost bring tears to my eyes. Then Jana says quite proudly, "Mama, I'm giving Kara love. See, she's not sad about Winky anymore!" "Winky? Wiiiinnnnkkkkyyyy" And the crying starts all over by poor, sad Kara Mae. And those tears that almost came to my eyes disappeared in a fit of muffled laughter at this absolutely amusing sight.

We managed to distract Kara during the rest of the wash cycle with a little swinging in the garage and playing on the bikes. When the beeper sounded, I dashed up the stairs back into the house to switch the laundry so Winky would be ready for bed time. Unfortunately Kara has become too adept at climbing stairs and before I could get all the laundry in the dryer and the dryer door closed, here come the tears again. "Wiiiiinnnnkkkyyyyyy!" And here's Kara trying to pull a very wet Winky from in the dryer, sobbing all the while.

The swing was no comfort, but a little Mickey Mouse Club House seemed to do the trick. When the dryer was done and Winky was clean, soft, and smelling wonderful... she threw him on the floor and went on playing as if he didn't matter. Ugh! Toddlers!