A Thief in the Night

Little man has a little blue blanket that he must take to bed with him every night named "doggie lovie." (Aptly named because it has a dog on it.)

While we do a good job of not letting little man carry doggie lovie with him to preschool, out and about on errands and generally any place outside of the house, he is firm in his stance that doggie lovie must come to bed with him at night.

I figure at least he's not still sucking his thumb or attached to a binky ... doggie lovies are definitely the lesser of those evils.

However, not only does little man have to have doggie lovie with him at night, there is a specific way doggie lovie must sleep with him.

One of little man's quirks is the fact that his doggie lovie must be placed with one end over his ear (little man is a tummy sleeper, just like his mama) and the other end of the lovie across his cheek. I once asked him why this was, to which he replied it "keep the dinoswaurs away." I figure it's a security thing, much like his little frog nightlight.

Tonight as I was tucking little man in I gave him a kiss on the cheek as I left his room. Little man was worn out from a big weekend and was already curled up, with doggie lovie on his cheek before I even put the bedtime story book down. As such, when I kissed him, the kiss landed on the doggie lovie, rather than on his bare cheek. I said good-night and walked out the door.

I had no sooner gotten to the end of the hallway when I heard little man crying in his room. I turned around and walked back in, wondering what could be wrong.

Little man was sitting on his bed, sobbing.

I went up to him and gave him a hug. Something was terribly wrong.

"What's the matter?" I asked him.

"My doggie lovie," little man sobbed.

I thought maybe the treasured doggie lovie had fallen off of the bed. But no - it was sitting right next to him.

"Here he is," I said handing the doggie lovie back to him. "It was right next to you, silly."

"No," little man said in between tears. "Doggie lovie took my kiss."

I know - it had that same effect on me, too.

I tucked little man in to bed again and gave him a big kiss on the cheek, this time being sure to miss the doggie lovie.

"Are you good now?" I asked him.

"Uh-huh," little man whispered.

I crept out of his room and shut his door. As the door was slowly shutting I heard a faint "I love you mommy."

"I love you too buddy," I whispered back, thankful that my little man wasn't so grown up yet that he didn't still need a kiss from mommy before drifting off to sleep.