med Emily and she had a Grandma Hill who made her a baby blanket. It was hot pink with different colored animals on one side and a flannel tiny flower print on the other. It was also hand stitched with a message especially for baby Emily; "EmilyAnne Larsen, 8-21-81". Around the four edged blanket were little gingham triangles in alternating colors; blue, pink and yellow. It was a lovely blanket. Who would have ever known how much that blanket would truly mean to that little girl over the following years. Oh and that blanket eventually acquired a name... Ni-Noo.
(This is not Ni-Noo but this is an example of the triangle edges)
Well as you may have guessed the Emily of the above story is the same Emily who is now writing this blog and Ni-Noo is my blanky. Ni-Noo and I share the same age, not to mention the same bed for the past 28 years. While 28 years isn't too terribly old for a person, I am afraid the years have not been as kind to good ole Ni-Noo. She is rather unrecognizable from the bright, cheery and fluffy quilt of my baby pictures. The pink fabric with the animals is completely worn away leaving only the batting. The flannel of the opposite still bears the tiny pink flowers but is worn and balled. The triangles edges are barely hanging on. 75% of it forms a chain that hangs and drags from what is left of Ni-Noo. There have been many mornings I awake to that chain being wrapped around one of my arms or legs or even sometimes my neck. Yes you read correctly...I still sleep with Ni-Noo.
When I was 17 and left for college my mom said "Emily you are not taking that baby blanket with you". I responded with a "why not" and later gave it to my boyfriend for safe keeping for the year and a half I was away at school. Had Ni-Noo been tucked away somewhere my mother could find it she could have thrown it away and I could not bear the thought. In fact before I left as a highschool graduation present my Grandma Hill made me a new Ni-Noo. She saw the dilapidated state of the old one and figured a new one was the answer. She made the new one out of neon fabrics with neon cats on it. While I do love cats and love even more the fact that she made me a new one...it just was not the same. My time at college was the longest Ni-Noo and I have ever been apart. I have been teased by my brother, roommates, Mitchell and my mother about the fact that I still sleep with Ni-Noo...do I care?
Ni-Noo makes me feel calm. When I am sad I can cry my tears into Ni-Noo and she doesn't care. She would hold gallons of my tears and still comfort me if I had more. It's indescribable how secure I feel with that ratty old lady of a blanky wrapped around my face or balled up at my side. She is my oldest and most loyal friend. When I was pregnant I remember my mother asking me..."Emily what are you going to do once the baby is born...you can't still sleep with that thing "....well I thought "I'm going to". Then she asked "are you going to let Olivia sleep with Ni-Noo". This was met with a swift and blunt "No way, she can have her own Ni-Noo". Olivia was born and was showered with many blankets that were countless candidates for a "Ni-Noo". She didn't seem too attached to any of them. Hmmm I thought maybe she won't have a
Ni-Noo...which seemed weird to me, how could you not have one? I kept on sleeping with my Ni-Noo and in her first 5 months when she spent her morning naps next to me in bed I swear she would sleep twice as long if I draped Ni-Noo over her. And a twice as long nap in new motherhood= magic. I always knew Ni-Noo had magical powers! Good thing mother was never successful in her attempts to get rid of her!
It seems people are either blanky babies or Lovey (stuffed animal) babies. And to those of you who may not find yourself in either category...well I feel sad for you. So around 5 months I began to notice that everytime I went to get Olivia up from a nap or in the morning she was holding her little Giraffe stuffed animal.
She had/has about 10-12 stuffed animals in her crib and everytime she manages to find that giraffe. Then just recently I discovered why she likes it so much. You see I usually put her to bed while she is still awake and it is up to her to soothe herself to sleep. In other words I don't ever see what she does exactly that induces the sandman.
Well about a week ago Mitchell and I traveled down to Milbrae to his Grandmother's house. It's a good 2 hours away and it was right during a normal nap time for Olivia. I sat in back with her as she whined and fussed about being tired and after about 10 minutes of protest she eventually settled into a trance like "gonna fall asleep soon" state. She grabbed the Giraffe, since we rarely leave home without it, and turned it around until she found the tag on it's butt. Then while pinching the tag between her chubby little fingers she began to rub the tag back and forth across her earlobe. It was pretty weird and funny but super cute. I must say it also warmed my heart because ever since she was born up until about 6 months old when I started to teach her to go to sleep on her own, I would rub her ears when trying to get her to go to sleep. It seems she remembers and it soothes her, she fell asleep soon thereafter. So you are probably wondering what does a tag have to do with the Giraffe being her favorite? Well I cut the tags off all her stuffed animals except for some reason the Giraffe escaped the scissors. I later noticed that she usually was holding the Giraffe by the tag so I just never cut it off.
So I guess Olivia is a Lovey baby. Which is okay with me...maybe the blanket attachment will come later? But I feel like it needs a name besides Giraffe. We have flirted with Jaffe the Giraffe, Geraldine the Giraffe and even just Stuffy, as in stuffed animal? But I think I am going to deem the Giraffe Ni-Noo, afterall my little sister still sleeps with her blanky and calls it Ni-Noo because that is what I called mine. So I guess Olivia gets her Ni-Noo afterall!
Olivia with her newly named Giraffe, Ni-Noo
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