My Life as a Stay at Home Mom: The Day We Left a Man (Blanket) Behind

Today we almost had a disaster. We left church without "Bankie."

Let me introduce you to Bankie. Bankie is a homemade, blue blanket that Client Two takes pretty much everywhere with him. This blanket is fairly big and is much bigger than Client Two. When he carried Bankie around, he has to gather it all up into a ball or he will trip over it.

He's not quite as attached to Bankie as his sister is to her bear, Bo, but Bankie is still pretty important. He makes car rides and new experiences and visits to the doctor easier. He helps to comfort Client Two when he gets upset. And Bankie helps Client Two sleep. In fact, Client Two cannot and will not sleep without his Bankie. We have, on occasion, tried a substitute and they did not even almost work. When it comes time for bed or nap, all we have to say is "Go get Bankie!" and Client Two runs off and returns with Bankie balled up in him little arms and a big smile on his face.

Today, when we got home from church, it wasn't quite naptime, so Client Two scampered off to play with his sister. After about 30 minutes of play, I said, "Go get Bankie!" and Client One started to scamper off but stopped and looked around the room. Bankie was nowhere in sight. My heart stopped. While Client Two began wandering around the house looking for his little companion, I rushed out to the car to double-check if Bankie was there. He was not. Usually, after church, I pick up Client Two from his class while hubby gets Client One from her class. Today, we had switched. Hubby isn't used to double-checking that Bankie is in tow before leaving the pick-up area, so he didn't notice that a man got left behind. Once we realized where Bankie was, hubby rushed back to church and returned a little while later with Bankie in his hands. With a sigh of relief (me) and cries of joy (Client Two), Client Two went down for his nap.

Bankie makes my sweet boy happy!

Not every kid needs a security item and for awhile, we thought Client Two was going to avoid having one. After all, since I'm a SAHM, he doesn't often get left with people he doesn't really know. He's rarely ever apart from me. But, little by little, he did become attached to his blanket. Client One became attached to her bear, Bo, when she was pretty young. She was probably only about six months old at the time. Bo goes with her everywhere. We can't even leave him in the car when we run into the store. She also needs him to sleep. When we first realized she was getting attached to Bo, we bought a backup, but by the time the backup arrived, it was too late. She could tell the difference.

Bo and Client One enjoying their bottles.

We have forgotten Bo a couple of times. He even got left at church once before, but we caught it before we actually left the building. Once, poor Bo got dropped and left in a store. I can remember running back in and frantically searching the aisles for the ragged bear, with a crying toddler by my side. A sweet little, old lady brought him up to us with a smile and we thanked her profusely. In a year, Client One will go off to kindergarten and will have to leave Bo behind. I am not looking forward to that day. I'm sure there will be tears- from her and from me.

Bo loves trips to the zoo.

So, today, we checked off another milestone. We forgot the lovie. A small, often forgotten milestone, but a milestone nonetheless. Let's just hope it never happens again. I'm good with this being a one-time thing.