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Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Letting go of Baby


There has been some discussion in this household lately about whether or not I should repair "Baby," Vin's longtime transitional object. Baby no longer has his arms and his head is hanging onto his blanket body by mere threads. I have great compassion for this stinky blue bear/blanket, but I also don't want to further empower Baby. I'm not sure, but I believe Baby has begun to cross the line into being an imaginary friend, which would only give him more staying power. (How sad we were when Curtsy and the Stinker left center state in Mattie's world).

Robb thinks I should sew him up and I think that I should just let him go and see what Vin says...if he's not traumatized by Baby's disabilities, then I don't want to make a big deal of it. So far, one of Baby's arms is in the fridge with Vin's Halloween candy and one is stuck in an endless cycle of being popped into the washer/dryer with a pile of clothes.

'fess up now...who's got a blanky on their bed? And let's leave Cynthia, Spubby and John Elbow out of this conversation. (They know who they are).

20 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Did I ever tell you about when I spent those two nights with your kids? Calvin came down at 5:30 in the morning...and being the morning person that I am (not!), I got him to cuddle up on the couch with me so I could sleep for another hour!

jcuqy: the mixed feelings i have about the snow that is falling heavily outside.

Anonymous said...

I didn't get the choice to give up my green silky, and I have to say, I'm still a little pissed about that since you and Ash had a more gradual process....and don't think I won't mention that you still drag that rag of a striped blanket with you everywhere, because I will ;)oops
I'm still relatively new at this parenting thing, but I really think children should get to be children on the things that aren't going to retard their moral developement. I think we push too much to make them grow up too quick. And would we be having this discussion if Vin wasn't a boy? I'm not so sure. I say, don't fix--what's perfection all about anyways? --but let the security go a little while longer. Remember how Steve Cox had his silky in his pocket well past 2nd grade? It's like a little hug from Mom when she can't.
why's Baby's arm in the fridge, anyways? does that slow the bleeding or something?

Unknown said...

For the last freaking time, Spubby and John Elbow were SIMPLY scapegoats for displacing my father's wrath when I would leave the television on and unattended!
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

Anonymous said...

okay, A wasn't who I thought the other two belong to...wow. And that was a really convincing way of dealing with it, bud.

Vanessa said...

Court, what does is say about you that your lovie was an army blanket??? What happened to it? I don't remember.

(okay, fine i still have my blankie...happy??? It's not like i still sleep with it.)

Beth, you accomplished something that has rarely happened in this household.

Baby's arm, btw, is in the fridge to scare away anyone who would want to take his Halloween candy. That or Vin just thinks it's funny when it is cold.

What did Ash have? I mean, besides Cynthia.

And A, Baby ate all my M&M's. It took TWO imaginary friends to leave the TV on?

Say "hi" to the boiler-room boys.

rsbmxbwq: am I the only one who is getting these super long "words" ???

Vanessa said...

I always really enjoy saying "spubby."

spubby spubby spubby....

Unknown said...

Yes, spubby is fun to say. That is why when my dad would yell, "who is watching the television?" and it was obvious that no one was, my only response that didn't elicit my ass being hit with a custom made paddle he'd made with about 42 coats of varnish on it was, "Spubby."

The "boiler room guys" that used to appear in my nightmares have subsequently been identified as the janitors in elementary school. Their office was literally in the boiler room, and being the brown nosed teacher's pet that I was, I had to go get them whenever someone puked in class.

Makes perfect sense to me.

BTW, does Robb realize he has the "moderator approval" option turned on at the Grenz? No one can post without his approval. Nothing I've left there has shown up for days.

jqsvu: The next smash hit in the Law and Order franchise.

Anonymous said...

Mom sewed my very special army liner into a quilt and then it got torn and she threw it away with no special ceremony---I AM a middle child. Ash had that purple blanket with the kittens on it and Purple Penny....hey, I liked my blanket 'cause it felt good. Ashley was constantly murdering off her imaginary friend. I think I'm okay, thanks.
I need to stick something of Dora's in the fridge to relieve my guilt....hmmmm. That would explain where all the cookies-n-cream went...yes, yes,...
Did Pookie have anything? or did he just blame us and make you curse?

Vanessa said...

oh yeah...Purple Penny....Yeah, I don't know Court...I think A has the corner on suckiest childhood. Our paddle was handmade, had holes drilled in it for better aerodynamics, but didn't have the 42 coats of varnish.

Hmmm, Pook didn't have anything special that I can remember but he wore those boots in 7th grade a lot.

Parenting has come a long way baby.

yzhzger: sleepy joggers.

A-I will advise about the grenz.

Vanessa said...

the cursing was before i was saved

ranbv: rainbows in right angles

Anonymous said...

saved or not, it was pretty funny and really the only way we could get you in trouble :)
forgot about the boots for Pook, but then again, that was also about the same time he had that poster of Tiffany--maybe that was a lovey enough h a haha
You're right, A wins. I bet he wasn't allowed to write all over his the way we did and then conveniently hid it (like that would stop Dad). Too bad A never learned to "take it like a man."

Unknown said...

No, see, that was exactly the way it was. We had to take it like a man. While my dad would spank us, we had to keep our feet FLAT on the ground and our hands FLAT on the coffee table. Then he'd keep going until we STOPPED crying. As long as the tears flowed and moans escaped, he'd keep going, harder and harder. That's why I can't cry to this day no matter how much the circumstances dictate I should. I was programmed not to, no matter how painful it was.

Yes, I know, I'm damaged on all sorts of levels. Let the pity flow . . .

p.s. Since the divorce, crying has gotten a little easier.

Anonymous said...

No, A, I wasn't referring to whether or not you actually did...it was a joke at our house because Ness actually got out of a spanking (VERY DIFFICULT at our house) because she told Pookie to "take it like a man" and Dad started laughing and couldn't go through with it....How old were you, Ness? Like 6, I think. Anyways, that's how it usually went in our place, everyone got very worked up about punishments except Ness, who took it on the chin. Hence all the nicknames Dad had for her....Ness, you remember how LOUD Ash would be? I would be crying and laughing at the same time everytime Dad spanked her.
So, anyways, Sorry it was so crap-tastic for you A, but I didn't know anything about that.

Unknown said...

CRAP-TASTIC!! I love it. I think I'll be using that quite often if you don't mind?!

We've all got scars right? It was character building, I think.

Vanessa said...

A, as parents we can measure our success if we are better than our parents....You'd be a freakin' genius.

or a fzryjgig genius.

(our dad made us reach over and grab our ankles while we got popped. How we didn't break our nose is beyond me.)

Vanessa said...

court, it was kind of fun for us when ash got spanked....I couldn't help laughing...oh the drama! Course, she only had like three spankings in her whole life because she was just a good person from birth. I'm pretty sure the only thing spankings ever cured me of was lying. It certainly never stopped us from fighting with one another....it was too much fun to pretend I was dead after you choked me that one time : )

guglm: the sound i made when court choked me and I pretended I was dead to scare the crap out of her. (what my kids now call 'fake deading')

Anonymous said...

it's really high time that i join in here....
yes, i had purple penny and i was crushed when i couldn't find her, and courney, my ever so honest big sister, told me that mom and dad "burned that thing".....
let vin keep baby....he'll decide when it's time to be a big boy and let him go...
a few more things i need to address:
1. yes, i still have my purple kitty blanket in my linen closet b/c some day, i'd like to restore it to its full glory and give it my future daughter...
2. thanks court for letting everyone know how loud i cried...all i can say in defense is that i now have an incredible diaphragm (no dirty thoughts please) that makes me one heck of a singer and one very loud teacher when i need to get my students' attentions.
3. finally, cynthia was healthy for me b/c courtney and laura were too busy finding ways to torture me when we played together.. cynthia was a safer alternative to tire swings and frozen ponds...
unfortunately she can't defend herself today since she got hit by a train last night....

Anonymous said...

Ash, you're sick,sick I tell you!!!:) You DID cry loud and you would howl like a wolf. I'm not saying it didn't break my heart when you got spanked, but nobody could ignore that sound. And Ness is right, you only got spanked like 3 times--two of which, Dad made me hold your hands and watch your face because I was too big to spank and too boring and reclusive to ground from anything. THAT, A, is torture. "It won't help if I beat one kid, so I'll beat the sister she is most protective of." great.
Anyways, I think what actually happened to purple penny is she fell apart in the wash so Mom tried to replace her and could only find Pink Penny.
And now that we have painted a lovely picture of our childhood, all I can really say is, either way we are saving up money---Dora can either use it for college or therapy.
Ness, as I recall, you broke my dog tags and that's why I choked you. come on, lighten up
(remember how fast we both got up when we realized Dad was coming up the stairs? Poor guy didn't think girls ever fought!! so naive--we made Pookie look like a nancy boy)

Anonymous said...

I vote for keeping baby. I think he will grow out of it soon.

Vanessa said...

hey jen! how are you! have you made any plans yet? wanna move to arkansas and be my live in nanny? the pay stinks, but the weather is much better : )

ujzyqcz: i'm telling you, my "words" are getting longer

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