***Sorry this is a long post for journaling purposes. Feel free to skip it!
Avery slept in our bed for the first few months of her life. One of my FAVORITE things was that she would hold on to my finger while she slept next to me(she still holds my finger while she falls asleep. so sweet!). After a few months, we decided that is was time to transition her to the crib in her room. I read on line that you can make the transition easier by putting something familiar in the crib that has the mother's smell on it. She loved the soft blanket that we had on our bed under the comforter. It was a pink velour type blanket, so I decided to put that in the crib for her to lay on. Well, she became very attached to this blanket and it officially became her "Blankie." Until she was about 18 months old, she carried around a QUEEN sized blanket everywhere she went. It finally occurred to me that, duh, why don't I just cut a piece of the blanket off to take places with us so we don't have to lug the whole thing around. And thus, "Big" and "Little" were born. We called the piece I cut off "Little", and the rest of the blanket was referred to as "Big." Well, after lots of lovin',both Big and Little started to get very ratty. I knew it was time to do something when I repeatedly got comments like "Wow, you can tell that blanket it is really loved." We were getting ready to go on a trip to my parents' house in California (summer '07) and my mom had recently purchased some of those big ol' new front load washer and dryers. I was trying to think of a way to switch out Big which was not going to be an easy task for a 2 year old who is VERY attached to her blanket. The idea came to me of a "Magic Washing Machine." Before the trip I started telling Avery that Gramley had a Magic washing machine, and that if we put Big in, it would come out brand new. She was a little hesitant, but started warming up to the idea, and actually got excited about it. When we got to California, we put Big in the washing machine, sprinkled some magic fairy dust(glitter) on it, and started the washer. We watched it spin around for a few minutes and then headed off to play with some toys. While we played with toys, Gramley snuck into the laundry room and cut a heart out of Big. She then sewed that heart onto the new and improved Big (a cute new cuddly blanket that we bought), and put it in the dryer for a few minutes. When the dryer beeped, we ran back upstairs to see what happened to Big. Avery opened the dryer and was excited, but a little perplexed. We showed her the heart, and she started to gently rub it on her face. A few minutes later she came to me and in the sweetest voice said "Mom, can we ask the magic washer to give me my old Big back?" A part of me wanted to give in and just give her the old blanket back, but I didn't. She never cried or complained. She carried around her new Big and constantly rubbed the heart on her face. When she went to sleep, she always made sure the heart was right next to her face. It took a few days of "talking up" the new blanket, but it actually worked! She still talks about gramley's magic washing machine and how it made her blanket new again.
Avery slept in our bed for the first few months of her life. One of my FAVORITE things was that she would hold on to my finger while she slept next to me(she still holds my finger while she falls asleep. so sweet!). After a few months, we decided that is was time to transition her to the crib in her room. I read on line that you can make the transition easier by putting something familiar in the crib that has the mother's smell on it. She loved the soft blanket that we had on our bed under the comforter. It was a pink velour type blanket, so I decided to put that in the crib for her to lay on. Well, she became very attached to this blanket and it officially became her "Blankie." Until she was about 18 months old, she carried around a QUEEN sized blanket everywhere she went. It finally occurred to me that, duh, why don't I just cut a piece of the blanket off to take places with us so we don't have to lug the whole thing around. And thus, "Big" and "Little" were born. We called the piece I cut off "Little", and the rest of the blanket was referred to as "Big." Well, after lots of lovin',both Big and Little started to get very ratty. I knew it was time to do something when I repeatedly got comments like "Wow, you can tell that blanket it is really loved." We were getting ready to go on a trip to my parents' house in California (summer '07) and my mom had recently purchased some of those big ol' new front load washer and dryers. I was trying to think of a way to switch out Big which was not going to be an easy task for a 2 year old who is VERY attached to her blanket. The idea came to me of a "Magic Washing Machine." Before the trip I started telling Avery that Gramley had a Magic washing machine, and that if we put Big in, it would come out brand new. She was a little hesitant, but started warming up to the idea, and actually got excited about it. When we got to California, we put Big in the washing machine, sprinkled some magic fairy dust(glitter) on it, and started the washer. We watched it spin around for a few minutes and then headed off to play with some toys. While we played with toys, Gramley snuck into the laundry room and cut a heart out of Big. She then sewed that heart onto the new and improved Big (a cute new cuddly blanket that we bought), and put it in the dryer for a few minutes. When the dryer beeped, we ran back upstairs to see what happened to Big. Avery opened the dryer and was excited, but a little perplexed. We showed her the heart, and she started to gently rub it on her face. A few minutes later she came to me and in the sweetest voice said "Mom, can we ask the magic washer to give me my old Big back?" A part of me wanted to give in and just give her the old blanket back, but I didn't. She never cried or complained. She carried around her new Big and constantly rubbed the heart on her face. When she went to sleep, she always made sure the heart was right next to her face. It took a few days of "talking up" the new blanket, but it actually worked! She still talks about gramley's magic washing machine and how it made her blanket new again.
This is Avery Showing what is left of Little
This is her New Big
(sorry I took this picture at kind of a funny angle)
P.S. How funny is this girl! She sleeps with a sleeping mask on!
