Bye Bye Blankie!

The white one is Wills, and the Zebra one is Owens'

My 2 boys are growing up!
You see, I am a big believer in the "lovey", "Blankie", "BB", "silky"...whatever you call it. My kids never wanted a pacifier (none of them) and I remember being almost in tears because I wanted them to like them. But, one thing that I have found worked for me, was the "blankie". From the time they were around 4 months, I began to put them to sleep with a small square blanket. Soft on one side, silky on the other. I would lay the blankie on my shoulder when rocking them at night time and before naptime. I would put them in their beds, right on top of their little blankie and they would bury their little faces in it. I guess I wanted them to have something comforting in their cribs and something that would be special, so they would be more likely to go to sleep. Well, I am 4 for 4 with this strategy. It has worked so well with my kids. All I have to do is show Gray his blanket and he wants to go to bed! I love it.
The difficult thing over the years is trying to keep the blanket in their beds. I have learned that if it is not just at bed time that they get to have their blanket, it is not as special. I have gotten better with this as the kids get older, as I do not like to see my 3, 5, or 6 year old walking around the house with their blankie.
That brings me to what has happened over this past week. One day, Wills came downstairs, after we had already tucked him in for the night, and said "I don't want to sleep with my blankie anymore". Matt or I did not make a big deal about it because we knew he would probably come back downstairs in 10 minutes having changed his mind. But the next few nights were the same, he did not want to sleep with it anymore! One night, he asked if I still had it and I told him yes.
He asked if he could just smell it! I let him have a few sniffs (ha) and he gave it back to me to put away. As most know, Owen and Wills share a room, so one night when Owen realized that Wills was not sleeping with his blankie, he decided not to either...just like that. My boys are growing up! The blankie thing has been harder on me than I thought it would, which sounds so silly. I guess, I have memories of the last 6 years with my little ones and their blankets. Wills has the original one he got when he was months old, Owen has gone through about 3 now, Kate changes hers constantly and Gray will not accept anything but the one he has had since birth--all these attributes are very in line with their personalities--pretty cool.
We are going on 10 days with no blankies and about 5 days of no mention of them. I guess it is official, that they do not need them anymore. Matt is thrilled...he thinks it is well past time for them to give it up. But, me...I am a softie, a sentimentalist, a person who loves consistency and it makes me realize that before I know it my "big" boys will be all grown up.
Lord, please help me to savor every moment and make it seem to go by slow!