Bankie

I can see it happening and I’m purposely not doing anything about it. I know I should put a stop to it to prevent a future mental breakdown.

But Luca is acquiring an unhealthy obsession with his blanket and I love it.

It’s this old, ratty fleece number with what used to be a lion or a monkey or a tree sloth on it. But whatever jungle creature was there was rubbed off a long time ago.

In bed? Luca MUST have it. The very second you drop him in the crib, he scrambles around mumbling, “Bankie,” until it’s in his clutches. He then pulls it up over his head to sleep. I used to worry that he’d suffocate under the fleece, but Bankie knows what its doing. There have been times when I’ve checked on him late and night and tried to pry it from his hands to better cover him, but he holds it with a death grip. There have been times where he’s cried out for hours and hours because the blanket dropped to the floor.

Now he’s taken his obsession outside the crib. It’s not too bad right now. He doesn’t need it constantly. But several times a day he’ll snap to attention and say, “Bankie!” Then he’ll reach his little paw through the jail bars of his crib and yank it out.

Elijah’s instinctive big brother-ness comes into play when Luca carries the blanket around. Eli loves to yank it out of Luca’s hands and watch him scream. Eli gladly takes the on-the-stairs punishment.

Why do I love this? It’s not exactly healthy. Weaning him off this will not be pleasant down the road. And I wonder what it says about his addictive personality.

And it can’t be the Linus thing. Linus wasn’t my favorite Peanuts character. I’m a Pigpen man, myself.

You know why I love it? Because it gives him comfort. And his comfort is the most important thing in the world to me. I need him to have comfort. I need him to feel okay. I need both boys to feel okay.

And if a little, ratty piece of fleece can be his life preserver in this increasingly f-ed up world, I say, “Thank you, Bankie.”