A comfort object can be an important part of a toddler’s emotional development. It can also be quite amusing, depending on the object.
We never experienced comfort objects with Thing 1. He isn’t really the sensitive, emotional type. We’re lucky when we get a goodnight hug from him. Thing 2 is the opposite. He’ll randomly walk up to someone, anyone, and give them a hug. He also has quite a stable of comfort objects.
Since he was a year old, he has slept with a “night-night”. What is a night-night? It is one of daddy’s T-shirts. He uses one or two as a pillow, and another as a blanket. And, since his nose is always running, by the morning the night-night is covered in snot and needs to be washed. So, as a result, I never have a clean T-shirt to wear.
Right now, another of his favorite comfort objects is this two and a half inch character that came as the driver in a toy dump truck. What you and I would call junk, Thing 2 affectionately calls Mustache Guy. When I pick him up at preschool, the first question he asks is “Where is mustache guy?” Lord help me if I don’t know.
Mustache Guy
Also very popular right now are baseball hats. He wears one pretty much all the time. Even while sleeping. Like I said, comfort objects can be amusing. As long as you don’t lose them.
What comfort objects does your toddler have?
I just spent the last half hour reading through your blog. My first is due in April, and this is gonna come in handy for me! Keep up the good work! I’m going to link you on my blog.
My son has to take six Thomas trains to bed every night. One for each color of the rainbow. There’s James, Murdoch, Emily, Percy, Thomas and Culdee. Wow. How sad is it that I know all their names?
Mustache guy looks like Mario of video game fame.
My second is all about comfort objects. She has two blankets that will put an end to tantrums and calm her to sleep. Her pacifier has been recently retired. She used it until it fell apart. The separation is going better than I expected.
My son has a blanket (two really, since one is kept squirreled away until the first needs to be washed, then they trade places, post wash of course). Since he has moved to his big boy bed, he insists that ALL of his stuffed animals must be in bed with him. If they are not, he will retrieve each one from its resting place and put it in bed with him.
I was worried that my youngest had a problem til I read this. He sleeps with the strangest things! It isn’t consistent. Last few nights its been a rock. Yesterday it was a “coiny” (a nickel). Only problem is, if he loses it at night, its hard to recover.