Hooray, Make Way: Meet Bubba

Last week when we were on vacation, Kurt suggested that I was remiss in not introducing you to Bubba when I laid out the cast of characters for the blog. So here goes. When Kate was 6 months old and we started weaning her from her swaddle, it was clear she preferred to sleep with a blanket. My concerns about SIDs aside, I let her sleep with this amazingly soft pink and white Barefoot Dreams bamboo chic receiving blanket that my cousins Lynne and Lesley had given me at my baby shower. The original Bubba is pictured at the top of the pile below.

Fast forward to today and Bubba is gray and smelly and usually wet. Bubba looks far older than his two short years, but he has evolved to so much more than just a receiving blanket. Bubba, named by Kate somewhere around age one, is her ultimate comfort object and favorite imaginary friend. It was Kate that decided Bubba was male. He is a friend to play games with- "Bubba has to take a turn next." He is a familiar place to come home to- "Bubba has to wait on the couch while I go to school." He is soothing in times of hurt or frustration- "Where's Bubba? I need Bubba!" Bubba is wet because Kate is a blanket sucker. Apparently this could be hereditary because I sucked on my blanket as a child and several of my cousins have mentioned similar behavior in their kids. Because this is not very sanitary, we do have a back up Bubba to allow for regular laundering. It was probably only a few short weeks after we got the back up that Kate was on to us. She knows the difference between the two, although she generally loves them equally. The distinction today is in the bracelet feature. The original blanket came with a small tag on it which she would search for at night and not rest until she had slid her hand through and was wearing the tag like a bracelet. When one of the tags came loose we cut it off and she was lost. Mimi made the wonderful suggestion of putting a pink ribbon on in place of the tag and it worked like a charm. Despite our constant encouragement to not eat Bubba and only hug Bubba, Kate is happiest with Bubba in her mouth and around her wrist.

Kate will usually willingly part with Bubba for a bath in the washing machine, so long as you give her the other Bubba that is clean and waiting in her closet. "You have to wash Bubba and I have to have back up Bubba. Okay?" Bubba does not leave the house- (thank goodness!)- except for travel. I am happy to report Bubba flew to Florida with our suitcases and not in tow through the airport. While I certainly have my concerns about Bubba and Kate's attachment to him/it, I am glad that she has something that makes her happy and calm and the stories about him certainly make me laugh. Let's just all say a little prayer she out grows this stage.