Ode to Lovey

You have heard me reference Lovey a time or two on Facebook and here on the blog.  It's time some questions were answered about ole' Lovey.  What is Lovey?

That square blanket with the ribbon tags is Lovey.  Oh Lovey, how we love you.  You have been the soother of all emotional and physical troubles.  You have calmed the beast, aka Alexa, when no one or nothing else would or could.  You've been around for awhile: 

Here Lovey is with Alexa when she's around 1 year old

Here's Lovey when Alexa is around 2 years old (they're watching fireworks)

Here is Lovey on the first day of 3 year old pre-school

Alexa got Lovey from a lady we went to church with.  It was an almost instant attachment.  Lovey has been through the ringer.  About 6 months ago, Doug went to check on Alexa before he went to bed, and discovered she had one of the ribbons wrapped around her finger- almost cutting the circulation off (thank goodness he went in!).  He cut all the ribbons right that minute.  I won't lie- I horror stricken.  Lovey would never be the same!  I didn't want Alexa to lose a finger, however if Doug would have given me until the next day, I would have sewn the ribbons up the middle and then she wouldn't have been able to wrap the ribbons around her fingers.  As it was, I had to sew the ribbons back together, so that they wouldn't fray, and then I sewed them up the middle so that she wouldn't be able to wrap them around her fingers anymore.  

Along with that, Lovey is pretty much filthy. There's a whole process to washing Her.  First I soak Her in a Borax solution, then I throw Her in the wash.  However, you have to do this whole process at a very careful time.  It can't be at a time when emotions might run high, when she has to go to bed, or when she's already tired and out of sorts.  Good luck finding that moment in time!

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to Alexa that we might need to start leaving Lovey at home.  I thought the talk would go a little better than it did.  She didn't cry or anything like that.  She was silent- which was more upsetting to me than if she had cried.  Later, Doug was putting her to bed.  I had eased in to put something in her room, and I overheard them talking about Lovey and how Lovey was going to have to stay at home now.  I had talked to her about it hours ago. Apparently it was still weighing on her mind.  I didn't stay to disrupt, I didn't want to interrupt their talk.  When Doug came out, I asked him how the talk went and he said, she was just sort of talking about Lovey, I guess trying to get it all straight in her mind.  Needless to say . . . I have not been very effective at keeping Lovey home.  She does stay in the car more and frankly, just knowing her presence is there in case of an emergency, is enough.  When I was having trouble potty training Alexa, I tried to console myself by saying, "It's not like she'll be in high school, still wearing a Pull Up."  On this situation, I can't say for sure that Alexa will still not carry Lovey with her when she's 18 years old.