Henry's Favorite Thing

Lots of children have them. That one comfort item that means more to them than anything else in the world. Their blankie, their taggie, their lovey. What they need to be comforted, what they take to bed with them when they sleep. You see them carrying them around, dirty and hole filled. They rub them on their face, pet them, kiss them, love them. Well, Henry seems to be getting attached to something at bedtime. We have given him toys and blankets trying to create an attachment that may help him sleep. He has a couple of toys he loves special, but at bedtime everything has been tossed out of the crib. Thrown away in disgust as if he says, "Really you all?? You thought I would be fooled by a stuffed shark?!?!"

No, he hasn't become attached to a toy. Not to a blanket or a lovey. But when we lay him down in his crib for bedtime, and then...slide our hand into the crib through the slats, he grabs on for dear life. We started this because we wanted him to sleep in his own bed, but to still know we are there. We wanted to be able to rub his back or hold his hand to help him relax and fall asleep. And since he was going from sleeping in our arms, we thought giving him a hand was a nice transitional step down. But now as mine or Nick's hand slides in to the crib, he grabs it with his own and presses it to his face. Hugging my arm tight to his body. He rubs his face into my palm and sometimes gives it a kiss. He then takes my hand and lays it flat on the mattress, and lays directly on top of it. For safe keeping. Several times as he drifts off he repositions it, using it as a pillow, then laying on top of it again. His lovey, his comfort, his favorite thing in the world, is his parents hands.

The love is so powerful sometimes, it takes my breath away. When I think of how much he loves me, and how much more I love him back. One of these days I will have to find a way to not have to sit by his crib as he falls asleep. To replace the comfort he gets from my hand with some type of toy or blanket. We really are working on it, but this falling asleep in his own bed thing is big, and we are taking baby steps. For today I love that our hands are his most favorite thing. Somehow it will be a little sad now when a stuffed animal replaces that.