Monday, September 14, 2009

To Know True Love is to "B" Loved

Definition of a "blankie" according to dictionary.com: A blanket, especially one used as a security blanket.

In the Ross household we call "blankies"- "B's." I guess it's our abbreviation for blanket. I've heard relatives call their security blankets this as well and I think it simply has stuck with me. I used to call my security blanket a "blanket." You see, my creative skills were evident even then...and yes, I still have it!

With each child, I'd purchase a pack of the all cotton, thick white cloth diapers. For James, I left them white, and for Teagan I dyed them pink, and Ireson's are blue. I figured with multiple duplicates of the security blanket- it makes losing and replacing them easier and not so traumatic! I have emotional scars from my childhood from losing my precious blankets! Each child has called them their "B's" and has used them since birth to fall asleep with and as a comfort measure. Ireson simply cannot go to sleep without his "B". We even have back-ups at Gramma's and Aunt Sarah's.

Well, the definition of a "B" has taken on additional meaning in our house.

Definition of a "B" according to Ireson.com: a blankie, a cloth diaper dyed blue to distinguish it from sibling's same style of "B", used for soothing or comforting a child in their youth, a must, a necessity for life, an absolute entity to general happiness, a hypnotic device used to lure oneself to sleep, used to adorn "'B -love" onto loved ones, and used for prodding and poking one's own ears and nostrils?!

When he could sit on his own, and had the hand control and the dexterity to accompany it- Ireson would take a corner of his "B" and tickle himself in his ears or stroke it back and forth under his nose. I'm talking about the kind of tickling that would feel like a bug flying around in your ear of a feather being stuck up your nose! For the average man, you could relate it to a modernized form of Chinese torture!
If you went up to him and asked him if you "could have some 'B' love?"- he'd share the same adoring and loving technique with you too- if you were so privileged!

His fondness and techniques for his "B" have progressed in the past 2 1/2 years since this new found skill erupted. He now prefers his "B's" to have a string (no longer than 1/2 inch), or a rip at the corner with a small tassel or such, to accentuate the tickling and effectiveness of self-donned "B" love. Thanks to Aunt Susie, he has also perfected the art of "face painting" with the tassel serving as the pretend paint brush head. He will trace over your features or pretend to draw whiskers or something on you as you lay there, the two of you, drifting off to sleep. Or, in my case, grin and cringe and bear it, until cuddle time is over and you can escape.

He has 7-8 "B's" to choose from and I keep 5-6 of them in the cupboard of his dresser. Three, however, are only worthy to be slept with since they posses the proper attributes for his security-companion sleeping. Sometimes though, I will check on him during his nap and he will have gotten them all out of the cupboard and I will find him sleeping on a mountain of B's.

Today I was cuddling with him before nap, and he was asking to "B" love me because he knows that this drives me crazy! He started to peruse his current "3-B" collection on his bed to decipher which one would administer the best method of torture to his loving and all too tolerant mother. The "B's" on his bed just wouldn't do so he started whining for me to "get the other ones, Mom!" So I grabbed the pile out of the cupboard and he carefully examined and sorted his B's until he found the proper one. To his surprise, he found 3 B's that were so blessed to carry the rare quality! I put the others back in the cupboard and laid down with them. With a B in each hand and a "this is the life" look on his face, he laid down and B-loved me. It only lasted a minute after I tackled him and tickled him and encouraged him to move on to B-loving himself. So he did and I looked on from the side-lines of the sport with a smile.

"Look Mom, two B's! Two B's for two ears!" (Simultaneously, inserting tickling strings into both ears here).
giggles and giggles....and then
"Two B's for two noses, Mom!" (Simultaneously, inserting tickling strings into both nostrils here with nary a snort or wiggle).

Notice the corner of the "B" by his thumb- it has the string. He had just hypnotized himself to sleep before I took this picture by stroking his left ear.

My day is now complete, now that I have been B-loved.

No comments: