Lily's "lovey", best friend, and amazing bedtime helper. Or destroyer of bedtime. All depends on his whereabouts. Twice in monkey's time with Lily he's disappeared at bedtime. One of those times was tonight, and both were wretched. For her and us (and probably the neighbours who could hear her wails for him).
I had no intention of either of my kids having a "lovey", but when she saw him it was love at first sight. Made worse by the fact that he wasn't hers... he actually belonged to another little girl (oh the scandal!) who lived in the apartment we were subletting last summer. When it was time for us to leave Louisville we were scared of how she would react. We hid monkey and she didn't seem to notice. Oh, how we should have left it at that.
But we didn't. In passing, Brad mentioned to monkey's owner's dad how much Lily has grown attached to monkey and how funny that was to him since she'd never bonded to anything. The kind man insisted that Brad be the knight in shining armor and bring monkey home to Lily (we had left a week earlier). We figured we would accept his sweet gesture since Lily liked him so much. And Lily has never loved another again in the same way.
She ADORES monkey. We've made a rule now that he's only for sleeping, so she gets him at nap time and bedtime only. You can tell when nap or bed is approaching because she'll start whining and pointing to the usual monkey-hiding-place. Where I looked today and couldn't find him. She took an HOUR to get to sleep tonight. Lord help me. I wish so often that we never accepted the gift of monkey. He's been a real life saver at times when Lily needs instant comfort or she's not in her own bed, but when he's gone, it's the opposite. She needs him and is furious at his absence.
All those weeks of Babywise when she was an infant and for what? So it could all go out the window when a pink animal wearing a bow tie stole Lily's heart?
The damage is done.
I'm off to search high and low for monkey.
How are you spending your Friday night?
Please tell me another way :)
And side note: does your child have a lovey? Did you as a kid?
I had a white blanket that I loved to pieces (literally).
Im spending it trying to keep the children in BED LOL when they LOVE being up...thus far 2/3 down not too bad!
ReplyDeleteI had one! Mickey Mouse, his nose had to be sewn on several times as did his arms! I loved that guy to death and still have him in a box in my closet ;)
ReplyDeleteI had one! He was a white teddy bear that my mum got in a baby shower basket. I named him Fluffy, but re-named him in the 3rd grade when I thought it wasn't unique enough. His name switched to Archer F. Johnny :)
ReplyDeleteI actually still have him! Though he is no longer a sleeping requirement, i don't plan on getting rid of him.
Also, I spent my night at a "Women of Faith" joint event with P2C and the MSA. Now I'm cleaning :)
Oh Emi - the white blankie...remember it like it was yesterday
ReplyDeletexoxo
Mummer
LOL!!! this is our life too!! heaven forbid we forget to mention Lala (London's koala bear) to babysitter and he's not in London's bed at bedtime. This too was a complete accident and a gift 2 Christmas's ago from L's grandpa. Serious melt downs when we can't find him at bedtime, and what is worse is that London has gotten into the habit of hiding him because he knows it prolongs bed. So our rule is now he NEVER leaves the bed (and I saw the exact toy at store and invested in it, just in case, but for now he remains hidden).
ReplyDeleteoh how I wish I could find another Monkey!!! I would buy ten!
Deletemy brother-in-law bought Lily a pink sock monkey (he's so sweet!), knowing it looked similar to her monkey, but he's definitely not going to replace THE monkey... :(