Wednesday, June 4, 2008

"Uh-Oh, I forgot Blankie"

That was the horrible thought that entered my mind as we stopped for lunch on our way to Seaside. My heart sunk as I realized in the haste to leave my house I had packed food, clothes, beach toys, nebulizer, medicine, strollers, kids, anything I could think of that would make the trip fun for all of us. But I forgot one important, irreplaceable item, J's blankie.

I remember how excited J. was when his aunts, cousins, and grandma arrived. We grabbed the few last items, J. grabbed his soccer ball and we were off. I did a quick walk through of the house just to make sure we had everything that we needed. I never saw blankie laying on the couch.

As soon as I realized this terrible mistake I started to think what my options were. Do we turn around and drive back to Seattle, we were only 1.5 hours into the trip, do I try to find a replacement at the outlet mall, do I try to find a Pottery Barn Kids and buy the exact same blanket and hope he doesn't notice?

My sister had been through this exact same horror the first year we went to Seaside. After arriving at the hotel D. asked where his blankie was. A moment of panic followed where we searched for blankie and tried to think of suitable alternative's (his aunt's silky underwear?) But theirs was just a moment of panic and blankie was found hidden in D's pillow. All was good.

I was not so lucky I knew we didn't have blankie with us. After a panic call to my husband and a terrible mis-order at Burger King the decision was made. One car load of people (those trapped with me) would drive to Tigard, just outside of Portland, to the closest PB Kids, the other car would head to Seaside. It was the best I could do. My poor husband called the store to check that they had "My Best Blanket" in green so the trip would not be in vain. They did. So, we were off on a rather lengthy detour.

Now, you might be asking why we did not just turn around then and there, we were only in Centralia. It seemed at the time that moving forward, not backward, was the best idea. We made it safely to the mall, thank god for GPS, and ran into PB Kids. I found the row of blankets and my heart sunk for the second time that day. The blankets on the wall were not the right ones. I went up to the cashier, opened the PB Kids magazine and pointed to the blanket I needed.

"Oh", says the very helpful employee, "Those are catalogue/internet only"

I reluctantly bought the closest blanket I could find, knowing it would not be a replacement to blankie. With a heavy heart and a slow tread I walked back to my sister and her two kids to tell them that this lengthy detour did not have quite the results I had wanted.

Later that night after a rather scary drive on a road my mom calls a "death trap", a yummy fish and chips dinner, and our first trip to the beach and the pool, I laid down my with 3 year old. "Where's blankie" he asked. Umm, well, we don't actually have it but I have this other one that is almost the same. He looked at me, pushed the blanket away and rolled over to face the wall.

By the end of the weekend J. had made peace about not having his blankie and even allowed me to cover him up with the new one. We made it three nights without it, but the first thing we did when we came home was say "There's my blankie! I found it!"

1 comment:

Unknown said...

My daughter is the same way about her my best blankie! It is the only blanket she carries around and the only one she will let me cover her with! :) Our kids have good taste!