Monday, May 11, 2009

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, I Love You

Since Linus was 6 months old, at the coaxing of numerous child development books, we have been trying to establish a transitional object. A transitional object, also known as a lovey or security blanket, is a toy, stuffed animal, or other object that a child bonds to and is able to rely on during high anxiety situations. Despite our best efforts, he never seemed to attach strongly to anything except his thumb, and he never seemed to need anything.

Fast forward to 22 months of age. Linus has a plethora of stuffed animals and soft blankets. He's never seemed to favor any of them until today. Today was the day that Pink Kitty got a bath.

It started so innocently. I was in the bathroom running water for a morning bath. Linus was collecting an assortment of toys for his bath. I wandered back into the bedroom passing Linus in the hall. He was on his way to put his bath toys into the tub. Maybe it was because I'd only had a half cup of coffee that morning but I did not notice the collection of stuffed animals he had chosen to join him at bathtime. Once I had Linus stripped and carried him into the tub, I was greeted by a tub filled with fuzzy friends, amongst them one pink kitty. I quickly cleared the animals out setting them on the countertop to dry and we continued with the bath.

Throughout the rest of the day, I was serenaded by Linus making what sounded very much like a wailing cat on her way to the veterinarian. Not knowing exactly what it was or why it was happening, I ignored it until it began to be accompanied by insistent pointing and whining. Following Linus's finger, I found the object of his distress... Pink Kitty.

After one quick run through the dryer to speed up the drying process, Pink Kitty was returned to his/her owner (it doesn't have any distinct kitty parts) where she/he was greeted with hugs.


Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.



3 comments:

Convertible Girl said...

JP had (has) a lovey, but suddenly one day became attached to "Baby," the throw away bear that came with a floral arrangement. There's just no telling why they pick who they pick. Guess that's a lesson for the future about picking friends?

Anonymous said...

Aw, a boy and his cat. That's pretty darn sweet. (My travis was a thumb sucker--we gave him a blanket and it was akin to giving cigarettes to someone drinking a beer. The 2 went together hand in hand too well!)

April said...

at least the bath was in the bathtub. my 14mo's lovey took a bath in the toilet this morning :-/