Monday, August 27, 2007

A Metamorphosis

My sweet R's most prized possession is his lovey, Sunny. He sleeps between R's feet so R can rub him whenever necessary for comfort. He has a music box inside that plays when you pull the caterpillar. Therefore, he is surface washable only--a nightmare characteristic for a lovey that is over 3 years old!For the past several months, Sunny's grunge factor has started to gross me out. I have been searching the Internet for a replacement for 6 months. I am not completely sure how we got Sunny in the first place, but I think he was included in a gift from my cousin in Alabama at a baby shower 3 1/2 years ago.

You can imagine my excitement to find another Sunny on Ebay last week. It led to an all-out bidding war between me and another person. When I won the auction, I honestly stopped and prayed for the other bidder, feeling guilty they might be in more desperate need of a lovey.

New Sunny is clean and plays the same lullaby as his predecessor. The only difference is that New Sunny has a butterfly rather than a caterpillar attached. (so very manly for my son, I know!)
Since my kiddos have read The Very Hungry Caterpillar 1,000 times, I decided this switch might actually be a hit. I set the stage with R a couple of days ago by asking him what he would think if one day Sunny's caterpillar turned into a butterfly. He paused for a minute before giggling at the thought.

Today, when the package arrived, I stealthily unwrapped it and asked R if he remembered our talk about Sunny changing. He nodded that he did. I unveiled New Sunny and his eyes grew large as he squealed, "Sunny, you are a bud-der-fwy now!" I exhaled with relief as R hugged him and accepted him at naptime.

The plan had all come together beautifully--except that I forgot to confiscate grungy Old Sunny. He was discovered...and guess who is sleeping in R's bed tonight?

12 comments:

Whitney said...

This post really hits home! I got another Lambie for Addie a few months ago. I too was grossed out by the grunge factor! I thought it would be great to have 2 so we could get one away from her to wash. No such luck - she wants NOTHING to do with the new one. I guess he doesn't smell "pretty" enough!! I am so glad your replacement worked for you.

Whitney

Jennifer said...

Oh Whitney! I hope it works eventually with Addie. K has 3 Lambies that I rotate. She sleeps with hers in her mouth, so it is disgusting. Thank heavens it is machine washable!!!

Keri said...

That's such a sweet story. I love the way you "made" Sunny change from a caterpillar into a butterfly -- how perfect was it that you found the butterfly version!?

So far, neither of my girls has a comfort object, and I never know whether or not that's a good thing. On the one hand, no frantically searching for a lost lovey; on the other hand, nothing I can reliably send with them to the church nursery or other such places.

I DO have a 3-year-old thumbsucker, and we're gearing up to start a sticker chart with the goal of her giving it up. We'll see how that goes.... (The 11-month-old just pulls the shoulder portion of her dresses to her mouth, a'la'Count Dracula. Pretty harmless, I think, even if she does it till she's 10!) :)

By the way, how is the no caffeine thing going? I hope it has become easier by now!

Renee said...

Have you seen the Eric Carle games at Target? Our music therapist told me about them so I went out and purchased a few...some were even already on clearance.

Rmomof3 said...

We are going through a similar situation with a blanket that blessing 2 has decided is hers - but really belongs to blessing 1 -your finding Sunny gives me hope to find our "Bay blanket" soon!

Have a blessed day!
Renee

A Place For Ministry Wives/A Place For Me said...

I love the spirituality and practicality behind the metamorphosis. We moms always see more to things than what is really there.

Now, go get old grungy and haul him to the dumpster. :-)

Andi said...

Soph has no lovie yet- when did the kids get hooked on theirs? I've tried blankets, bears, etc... She doesn't even like pacifiers. She's an independent woman, I'm telling you.

Staci said...

Thank you so much for writing this post. You inspired me to go look on ebay one more time for a replacement lovey (frog blanket) for my daughter.

We had two, but in the last 6 months or so both have gone missing. I found one on ebay but the bidding war took it up to $50.00 (I lost).

I just found one for under $20 on ebay tonight because of this post. So thanks!

P.S. Stacitee is my old blog but I coudln't figure out a way to leave a comment using my Laughing Mommy information.

Kelly said...

I can relate so well! My daughter's sweet little piglet apparently fellinto the trash beside her bed and was gone before we realized. God bless Ebay, because a brand new one- identical, was on the way! She has now convinced herself that it is her original piglet, he was apparently travelling and this nicw family found him and sent him to us by way of ebay:-)

Perri said...

I'm laughing at the thought of how you are going to explain Sunny's clone this morning.

He'll probably love having 2 sunnys. Maybe you could split old open, remove the music box and resew it now that you have new Sunny.

ShaggaBear (Linda) said...

That is a great story. Our daughter's "lovey" (we call it binkey) is a plain cloth diaper, so thankfully, it can be washed, dried and even bleached if necessary. If we're with her cousins or friends, she can always tell which one is hers by the smell. I find that amazing.

Mayhem And Miracles said...

I haven't had a chance to read a lot of blogs lately, but I did give you a Blogger Award! Can't wait to get caught up on your sweet peas.