Bye Bye Blanket

Blanket has been through a lot with us.

Holidays

Even the one's he had to miss out on because he was sick.

And the ones he was scared to death of.

Helped us through moving into a new house.

Blanket was even there for the transition to big brother.

Of course to the circus,

And along to pick pumpkins

Blanket has been there through it all.

The funny thing is, I started this blog thinking, "Oh how sad, Milo is done with his blanket now, and I don't even have a single picture." . . This isn't even half of what I found.  Blanket is always lurking somewhere in the background.   That kid really did LOVE his blanket.  I still remember when he was little and called it kiki.  I always knew that it was kind of a gross attachment.  Lets face it, blanket got drug through the dirt, thrown up on, spilled on, sat on, dipped in the bathtub, and rarely washed.  He started loving this thing around 6 months.  And it seriously went EVERYWHERE.   When he started to play and make-believe, he would talk and talk to blanket.  It really was his very best friend.  He would squeeze it and say, "I love you so much blanket."  There were countless nights that Milo would throw up, and we would stay up and watch "Toy Story", while waiting for the "fast" cycle on the washing machine to beep.  I learned the hard way that skipping the last two minutes on this cycle only results in the door locking and having to start the machine over. 
When Milo was about 2 1/2,  the inevitable happened.  Blanket got left at the mall.  By this time I had patched, sewed, and glued this little rag a million times.  I was barely bigger than a hanker chief, but Milo loved it all the same.  Milo begged and begged to go back to the mall and get it, but I figured that anyone that picked it up would have immediately thrown it away. . . it seriously looked like a dirty dish rag, besides I thought it was time for him to give it up anyway.  That was until missing nap time and crying into the night because he couldn't fall asleep without it.  He always sucks his thumb and snuggles it while falling asleep.  So I layed down by him and told him to just suck his thumb.  He looked at me, then looked at his thumb and said, "why would I do that?"  So the invention of "blankets buddy" came around.  This was a dark brown piece of material that was similar to his original blanket.  I cut up 16 squares of it, so we would never lose it again.  Every time we go to the mall he still asks if we can get his old blanket, but blankets buddy has lasted us a whole year. Then this last weekend we went camping.  I packed like seven bags for the three kids.  I packed toys, food, snow clothes, swim suits, you name it-but I somehow forgot blanket.  When I realized my mistake, I honestly thought that one of us would have to drive home.  But I told Milo what had happened, and he said, "It's okay I'm almost four, I don't need it."  And he didn't, from that moment on he hasn't asked for it. It's weird that my heart kind of broke.  He is almost four, and he's not a baby anymore.  He's my big man.  I look at all of the places that we took blanket, and how Milo has changed over four years.  At the park he used to be terrified of the sand, so he would lay blanket down and sit on it, so that he could at least be closer to the kids.  Now he's a maniac and runs and slides and plays cave monsters like no ones business.  At the Dr's office he used to cling to that baby, and twist it, and cover his eyes with it, but now he just politely tells Jetta that if he is good, that she owes him a sucker.   I'm sad as I sit here writing this.  Blanket helped us grow up, and now I just have a cute, big, almost four year old.  I guess he wasn't the only one with an attachment.