Blankey Boy

Our little baby J is changing every day. He wakes up with bright eyes and a happy heart, pointing his little chubby finger at everything--ready to show us his new tricks. If I only had a dollar for every time the husband says, "That little Jdog is such a good baby," then we could pay off our student loans. Almost.

Little J has always been a texture guy. He loves to feel things--scratching walls, furniture, carpet, my face (ouch), and he loves to try to pick apart anything that is crocheted. Since birth whenever he eats he's so interested in scratching me that it is rather painful, so I always tried to keep a blanket nearby to keep his hand occupied. And, he's developed an attachment. And it's adorable.

He doesn't show a preference for any particular blanket yet. He has a few favorites--the soft ones. He grabs a wad of the furry fabric with both hands and stuffs it into his mouth and smiles. The other day at the grocery store I had him in a frenzy of giggles as I let him stuff his blanket into my mouth. This kid is too cute.

Today when he awoke I heard him jabbering in his playpen. I sat there listening his his amazing little noises for a few minutes before I went in to get him. It's still sort of crazy to me that his favorite sound is "sssss." It's just so effortless. When I opened the door he crawled over to the crib side, stood up and reached for me. Then, I asked him, "Where's you're blankey baby?" He immediately dropped down, crawled over to his fuzzy green comfort cloth, and clenched onto it with both hands. I picked him and the blanket up and he was as happy as a baby could be.

That is, until, Atrain began experimenting with Jdog's tolerance. Atrain grabbed the blanket from him and then gave it back, and then repeated the teasing until baby J had had enough. He crawled right over to big brother and lunged for the blankey. I was like watching a a baby seal belly flop onto a slab of ice. Atrain was a little surprised by Jdog's sudden surge of confidence. So was I. We all laughed a little before I parted the two boys and congratulated Jdog on winning moves. He smiled as he snuggled his face right into his blanket. It's so sweet to have a little blankey boy.