Friday Frenzy: When Best Laid Plans Go Bad

(Today, I'm happy to welcome Traci from A Day in the Life of a Drama Queen's Momma. Her blog hilariously chronicles her daily life as a mom of 4- three of which are "slightly" dramatic girls. Her facebook posts alone have me laughing so hard, realizing I'm not the only one who goes through some of this crazy motherhood stuff. Definitely check her out! Thanks, Traci!! ~Tatted Mom)

When Best Laid Plans Go Bad

Things don't always go as planned in parenting. Even the best intentions and well thought out plans can go awry. For us, the problem began with a blanket. Not just any blanket. THE blanket. The blanket that we swore would not be a problem long before our daughter was even born. You see, we are SMART parents and learned our lesson the first time. We were not going to let our fourth child grow an attachment to any particular item.

No matter what.

But as I said....best laid plans...

It all started with child number two. She was addicted to the binky. You know. THAT child. She couldn't function without that thing hanging out of her drooly little mouth. She slept with it, ate with it, even talked with it. And some days, she double fisted that sucker, and slurped on two of them at the same time! It was pure torture (mostly for us) to take that thing away because we are worn down wimps, which led to her having it well past what would be considered "kosher" in the parenting world. (She was three when we finally conquered that battle)

But we are smart. So we learned our lesson, and adapted a NEW plan with child number three. NO binky. Solved that problem. (Pats self on the back)

Fast forward to child number three. Since she didn't have a binky to attach herself to, she instead
attached herself to me. More particularly, my boob. She couldn't get enough. She absolutely REFUSED to take a bottle. No matter what. In fact, it was so bad, that I usually had to leave work on my break to drive home and nurse her, else she would starve and people would stop offering to babysit.

And we all know... we can't lose the babysitter!

And it didn't stop there. She also attached herself to a blanky. You know what I am talking about, right? Those little blankies with an animal head (hers was a duck) that is small enough to carry around everywhere? Hers was super special because it was a personalized gift from her aunt and uncle who had her name stitched into its bright yellow, fluffy fur. (Making it practically IMPOSSIBLE to duplicate.) She couldn't live without that thing. She took it everywhere. And even when she started school, she took it in her backpack. No joke.

And then it happened.

She took it on an overnight stay at a friends and came home without it. We called and begged asked them to find it (preferably BEFORE bedtime), but they couldn't find it. Uh oh. We were in t-r-o-u-b-l-e! Bedtime that night was a disaster! She couldn't sleep without it. We spent an entire week battling the bed. She wouldn't stay in it. She cried. She got up in the middle of the night. She crawled in bed with us. Anything. No, everything she could think of to avoid bed without blankie, she tried it.

As I said before....torture.

Again. We learned. No binky. No blankie. Check.

Then came child number four. And she wasn't playing by ANY of our rules. Our best laid plans and intentions went right out the window.

First off, she desperately desired the binky. And since her dad is a big pushover an overly attentive and loving father, ask and you shall receive became our mantra. Or his, rather.

Okay, I lost that battle.

But I was putting. my. foot. down about the blankie. Period.

So, when she started to show even the slightest bit of attachment to her fringed tie-blanket, I bought bolts of fleece and made her tons of them. My fingers went numb from tying those suckers. I figured, if she had a bunch of the same kind of blankets, we could switch them out and thus eliminate the chance for her to become attached to any particular one. And I am a plan ahead kind of mom!

Great in theory, right?!

It didn't work. You see, her older sister had a tie-blanket from when she was little and she thought she would be super nice and pass it down. She was, after all, practically grown-up at age 9, and didn't need it anymore.

Okay. That was sweet. And what's one more blanket?

Apparently, it's everything. Number four LOVES that blanket. It was, after all, a gift from her big sissy! She carries it everywhere. She even gave it a name. Bear-Bear. (Because it is covered in teddy bears.) She sleeps with it. Eats with it. Takes it on trips with us (even to the grocery store). In fact, I am incredibly surprised that she doesn't take it to school with her!

And so, here we are, holding onto our sanity by a thread (<-- a little blanket humor there!) with our best laid plans, our well-thought-out intentions, all thrown out the window. And all because of one well-worn, well-loved, teddy bear blanket... and a fourth child that lives by her own rules.

Here's to hoping we NEVER lose Bear-Bear.

Ever.

***
Traci is the mom of 4 wonderful children. She works part time as an accountant and the rest of her time is spent shuttling, molding, chasing, and scolding, AKA mothering. Her blog,  A Day in the Life of a Drama Queen's Momma, lets us know that the best way to handle motherhood IS with some snarky humor! You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter!

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