Going to sleep
By Amy
@artemis432 (7474)
Abernathy, Texas
June 7, 2010 8:48am CST
Many young children have either bed time rituals or a little critter - stuffed animal that they can't go to sleep without. Does your child? And if so, do you have a back up in case its somehow lost - right before bed?
My son never really liked stuffed animals until recently. He was more likely to go to sleep hugging a firetruck or car - and he has done this. LOL. Then, after a string of animals he received from us and family, I stopped getting them. He didn't even want to play with them. Until one day I won a tiger at an amusement park and he decided he adored it and carried it around and had it interact with his dinasaurs and little people. He slept with it every night until one day when I found a cute monkey for like two dollars in those sales bins @ Walmart or someplace. For a really long time that was his cherished night time friend - until recently - I started playing those games that are in some grocery stores and restaraunts - where you put your quarter in and try to catch a stuffed animal. I play a few rounds while waiting for my husband to come pick us up.
So every week now, he's been trading his favourites - that he can't sleep without - with whatever my newest win was. Yesterday I won two, a purple bear lying down - really soft - that I planned to give to one of my nieces since it is purple but he loves it - I chose to try for that one because I go for the ones that aren't all wedged in. He wanted me go for the spiderman but I tried twice and didn't want to sit there spending like three dollars in quarters. And I won a cute little pug dog that zips up in the back so he can keep things in there. And, true to form, he wanted to sleep with my latest win - so he insisted on both! Is your little one fickle - does he change up his favourites - or your little girl? What happens when he or she can't find his current favourite at bedtime?
2 people like this
2 responses
@elfbwillow (307)
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7 Jun 10
My mum bought my daughter a little pink bunny comforter the day she was born and we always put it in the cot with her. She became so attached to it that she even started taking it out for when she was tired. A number of months back the dreaded thing happened - bunny went missing! I spent nearly two hours retracing our footsteps trying to find bunny whilst my daughter kept crying out for bunny and had to go home empty handed. Luckily she had another special bunny so that bed time wasnt too bad - I think that I was more upset about bunny going missing than she was!! Luckily the next day I was able to buy her a similar bunny comforter which she took to immediately and now always has that bunny for bed though she knows these days that bunny stays in the house!!
@karen1969 (1779)
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8 Jun 10
My daughter had a special white bear called Bear (of course!) and she lost it when we were out shopping, when she was about 1 1/2 years old. I was upset too and we also tried to find it, but didn't. Even now, some 15 years later, she looks at photos of her with Bear and remembers it!
@karen1969 (1779)
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8 Jun 10
That's a really good idea to change special toys if you can, as otherwise it is so hard if the special toys get lost or broken. My eldest daughter (now 19) still has her special penguin, but it is falling apart. Of course, she doesn't need it in the way she did as a child. My son has a special bunny, as does my middle daughter. My youngest though never really had special toys, just a special blanket (which she still resorts to at 14, if she feels ill), but it is a common design and she's happy with any blankets like it, thankfully!
