Loveys are a normal part of most children's childhood. Let's hear from some of your favorite Arapahoe Library staff about their security objects when they were young!
I had a Winnie the Pooh blanket that was carried everywhere! I still have it in a box and take it out from time to time.
1. My Wonder Woman underoos. I still remember my mom begging me to take them off—but she just couldn't understand! I needed them to be Wonder Woman ALL OF THE TIME.
2. A giant stuffed monkey named Shines. I loved to put him in the corner of my room, sit in his lap and read to him. Maybe I should drag him out of storage and read to him for old times' sake!
I had a pair of Tweety bird shoes I could not bear to part with, even when my toe was poking through a hole. I actually went so far as to rescue them from the trash and hide them in a hole with a rock over the top in the backyard!
I had a giant (like, 2 feet tall) stuffed Snoopy. He had outfits, too—I remember a pair of lederhosen. I carried him around by the neck and soon all the stuffing there had migrated away so he couldn't hold his head up anymore. I still have him...in my closet.
My dad placed a Winnie the Pooh teddy bear in my crib when I was brought home and I would refuse to sleep without it. My parents had to bring it on every trip and finding room for it in a suitcase was usually a nightmare, or so I'm told. It traveled all over the place with me when I was competing and my skating coach usually had the honored job of getting to hold him while I was on the ice during competitions. He even went to college with me and sat by my computer and made sure I did my homework. I still have him, but he lives in a box now and is missing his nose.
I had one "lovey" that I couldn't live without—a blue and white striped blanket appropriately named Blankie. I took it everywhere with me. I remember staying at my great aunt's house one night and I had forgotten Blankie. My aunt tried many tactics, including letting me borrow her daughter's blankie, so I could have "Spare Blankie." It would not do. (My poor aunt!) I also had a teddy bear named Teddy (but his name was Theodore, so his nickname really was Teddy!), and a bunny named Heather. But those didn't compare to Blankie! I loved the pieces out of Blankie—literally. Mom still has the scraps!
I loved my stuffed animals. My favorite was "Kitty." (I know, not very imaginative, ha!) Kitty was a beanie baby before there were Beanie Babies. She was grey with shining blue eyes. My brother threw Kitty out the car window when we were on a family roadtrip. I was devastated, and sobbing in despair. I couldn't imagine the idea of Kitty being abandoned along the side of the highway! Dad took the next exit so we could turn back and rescue her. Kitty's eyes were never quite as shiny after rolling across the pavement, but I loved her even more for being "brave" and couldn't imagine ever being without her. Yes...I still have Kitty!
Teddy was my friend and confidante. I would play, sing, talk and read with him. I rubbed his nose until it almost came off. My grandma sewed him back together and he lasted until he was nothing but stuffing in a box. When I got married, I finally had the courage to say good-bye.
Growing up I had a small bird blanket that I took everywhere. It was what I had to have. We lost it once and couldn’t find it and after a month my mom thought maybe we left it at the house we had just moved from. So we had to go back to that house and ask the new homeowners if we could check the attic or if they had found it anywhere. (Spoiler: it wasn’t there) but we found it eventually!
I bought my son a stuffed bear right before he was born. He named him Beary. Beary still lives with my son, who will be 30 next month.
When I was a kid I abhorred stuffed animals. Too lumpy...useless limbs...and I never cared for how soft they were. Instead I had a favorite book that no one was allowed to touch and I read it every day. Sometimes multiple times in a day. The book was Pickle Things by Marc Brown. I loved everything about that book. The illustrations made me laugh and the rhymes were very clever. Plus I LOVED pickles! I took that book to college with me and kept it on the shelf above my computer. I still have my Pickle Things and at age 33 I've still never let anyone else touch it.
Patty
When my son, Taylor, was 2, he loved to rub the tags of the pillow on his bed. I used to make sure the tags were sticking out of the pillow case so he could reach them. When he would rub them into shreds, I would cut the tags off of other pillows and safety pin them onto the remnant on his pillow. I am so glad I didn't go to jail for removing the tags!
My oldest had a blanket with a monkey on it that she always had wrapped around her neck like a cape, so we called it Super Monkey. My youngest, who is 11, still sleeps with Sophie the dog. If she spends the night with a friend (where she's too embarrassed to have a lovey), Sophie has to sleep with me so she's not lonely.
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