A Study in Blankets

When we recently headed to have testing done on Zibing, she brought her "blantet" with us.

That is nothing unusual for my children to want to do.


When we went to Daytona last month, all four blankets made the trip also.



My children's love affairs with their blankets go way back.

Way, way back.

It started with Elisabeth's first night with us in China...August 9, 2004.


It didn't take this precious girl long at all to figure out that she loved her blanket.


And it didn't take mama and daddy long at all to figure out that blankies are a good thing for our children to have.



A treasured item they can hug,

and love.




That will help them feel better when they're layed up sick.

Once our children got their blankets, they have never spent another naptime or nighttime without them.

Never.

This means that their blankets have alot of miles on them.

Elisabeth's blanket traveled with us to visit Laoli and Papa...back when they still lived in Arkansas (I shudder to remember those days - we're so thankful they now live right around the corner!).



And Elisabeth's blanket traveled with us in October 2005 to bring Noah home. (Ling and Pooh traveled with us also - you can see their heads poking out of E's backpack.)

And we knew that this precious boy would also need a blanket to love on.

And he did love his new blue blanket...almost as much as he loved his thumb...

...and his new big sister.

And when he was first starting to toddle around our house...it trailed along behind him.

And when he has had surgeries...it's stayed in the hospital too.


And it got to ride around behind him in the "Hummer" on the 6th floor of our Children's Hospital.




And their blankets traveled with us to Colorado when we went to Elisabeth's travelgroup reunion in summer 2006...





...and when Elisabeth and I traveled to Texas for her reunion in summer 2007.


And a few days later when we all (including Laoli) travled to China to bring our precious Daniel home, the blankets were, of course, right there with us...

(Yes, bad mama...I let Noah sleep right on the dirty floor of the Beijing airport.)




And we knew that in his new little backpack, we definitely had to pack Daniel a blanket...and his had cars on it!

And he learned right away (about an hour after we met him), that he liked his blanket.











And when Daniel had his surgeries, the blanket was always there.

And when we knew that our #4 child was indeed going to be a sister...one of the first things we bought her was...you guessed it, a blanket!

And Zibing liked her blanket just fine in China...

and she slept with it...but I think it was mainly because Elisabeth slept with hers.



So when Lily Kay lost her pink blanket on the trip home from China...

( The last known picture of the LK's first blanket...see it in the very bottom middle of the picture)

...she wasn't devastated.

But after being home for a few months and seeing how much her older sister and older brothers love their blankets...we decided Miss Lily Kay needed another shot at a lovey blanket.

So she now has this pretty pink striped one...

Her "blantet".

While Elisabeth - my child who loves. her. sleep. - is the only one I can catch pictures of sleeping with her blanket these days...I assure you, all my children still love sleeping with their blankets.

And although I know the day is coming when they won't love sleeping with their blankets...I don't even want to think about that yet.