"Blankie"

Recently Madelyn has given up her nuk - which has been quite an ordeal.  She originally said that she would throw it in the trash for some ice skates, but I convinced her to settle for picking out a toy at the store.  She very happily threw all her "nukies" in the trash.  That is until later when it was time for bed.  Let's just say she wasn't so happy about her decision anymore.  But I stuck to my guns and told her that her "nukie" was all gone.  She eventually fell asleep, and the next day at the store she chose a doll.  For the first few days she would ask for "nukie" a lot but never cried about it and always slept great once she was asleep.  It was the getting to sleep part that was tricky.  She doesn't cry ever, but she sits in her crib for over an hour EVERY time (whether it's nap or bedtime) and sings (well really belts out) songs.  She sings and sings until she's all sung out then she talks to her "friends" then she sings some more.  Then she tells stories and this goes on and on and on.  She is happy as a clam.  It's pretty humorous to listen to her every night - it's great entertainment.  Anyway.....so since she has given up her "nukie" she has become even more attached to her blankie (that she has had since she was a baby).  The problem is she has started wanting it everywhere with her and then when it's time for bed it is nowhere to be found, and we spend a half hour looking all over the house for it.  So I started the rule that blankie has to stay in her bed.  She struggles with this rule to say the least.  So earlier today she had it out and I said that if I saw it out one more time I was going to put it in the trash.  An hour later it's out of the bed again.  So I went and grabbed it and hid it in her room.  She immediately started crying that mommy took her blankie.  Collin is upset because Madelyn is upset and asks me where the blanket is.  I say, "I told her I was going to put it in the trash and I did".  Now of course the second I say this it's one of those parenting moments that you just wish you could take back.  There is NO WAY I am taking blankie away for real - because guess who would suffer, but now I've said it, so I've got to go with it.  To make matters worse, Collin totally calls my bluff and starts looking in all the garbages around the house and naturally can't find it, because it's not in the trash.  He says, "mom didn't really throw it away, she probably  just hid it".  Now I go ahead and dig myself even deeper - but like I said I couldn't back down now.  "I put it at the bottom of the garbage in the garage so it's all yucky and dirty and ruined where nobody can get it back for her".  I mean seriously what was I thinking.  Collin starts to realize that it's really gone, and I'm pretty sure he's about to cry - Madelyn of course has already moved on.  Collin asks me how much her blankie costs.  I tell him $35.  He comes back in a few minutes with $35 from his wallet.  "I want to buy Madelyn a new blanket", he says.  Now this is practically all his money and I say to him, "Collin you could buy a DS game or some really cool legos with that much money.  Do you really want to spend it on a blanket for Madelyn.  Besides mommy was trying to teach a lesson to her.  "But she has loved that blankiet since she was born", Collin says.  The look on his face could melt your heart.  I seriously had no idea where to go from here.  We talked about it over supper and Collin insisted on buying her a new one.  I didn't know what else to do so I decided to turn it from a lesson about keeping your blanket in the bed to a lesson for Collin on being generous with your money.  So I told him to give me his $35 dollars and while he was at church I would go and buy a new blanket and he could give it to Madelyn.  Then I grab a Target bag from under the sink, sneak upstairs and get Madelyn's blanket from hiding, put it in the Target bag, slip it in my purse and take Collin's $35.  I know you are thinking I am totally conning my own kid out of $35 - but I didn't know what else to do without damaging my reputation for doing what I say I'm going to do.  As soon as WOW is over, Collin asks if I got a new blanket for Madelyn.  I tell him yes and hand him the used Target bag with the old blankie inside.  You can tell he is so happy.  I tell him that Target was having a sale and the blanket was only $10 and he can have back the rest of his money.  I feel horrible that I just made him give me $10 for this stupid old blanket.  But then we walk in the door and he gives Madelyn the blanket and the look on her face and really more importantly the look on his face really was worth a lot more than $10.  I found myself thinking why do I have such a hard time letting Collin spend $35 of his dollars to make his baby sister happy?  Why was I trying to talk him out of it - instead of trying to talk him into it?  He was literally thrilled to make Madelyn happy.  Isn't that what true generosity is all about...maybe just maybe it ended up being a lesson not about keeping the blanket in the crib or about letting Collin manage his money by himself, but about remembering that we are so blessed to have the dollars that we have and that we should be using some of those dollars to make other people happy!!  Maybe it turned out to be a lesson for me.....Anyway I think the pictures speak for themselves - look at how proud he is!!

 

Collin would literally do anything to make Madelyn happy!  He loves her SO much!