My Son is
Turning Into Linus
My
parents
got my
son a
fleece
blanket
for
Christmas.
He
immediately
became
infatuated
with it
--
sleeping
with it,
carrying
it
around
all day,
and so
on. No
problem...
Until
WASH
DAY.
The
first
few
times,
we
avoided
conflict
by
giving
it to my
in-laws
to do
with
their
wash,
which
they did
during
the day.
Recently,
however,
they
began
going at
night,
like I
do, due
to being
too busy
during
the day.
So, we
avoided
the
issue by
not
washing
it for a
while,
lest we
have a
2-year-old's
Hiroshima-like
tantrum
on our
hands.
Besides,
he
seemed
to
become
more
attached
to it as
it got
dirtier.
So, this
morning,
when I
got him
up, I
found
that his
diaper
had
leaked,
soaking
his
pajamas,
bedsheet...
and the
blanket.
As he
was
eating
breakfast,
I looked
at the
blanket.
What had
once
been a
glistening
white
fleece
blanket
was now
basically
yellow,
with
numerous
stains
from
milk
spills
or other
diaper
leaks
that we
had
missed.
The odor
was
worse
than a
two-week-old
unscooped
litter
box. And
a good
portion
of it
was as
solid as
a 2X4. I
put my
foot
down.
The
blanket
was
getting
washed,
tonight.
I snuck
the foul
thing
into a
laundry
bag
during
dinner,
and
loaded
it into
my car.
I put
him to
bed with
one of
his
sister's
fleece
blankets.
No dice.
As I
left, he
was
screaming
bloody
murder
from his
crib. My
wife and
I
decided
to let
him cry
it out,
and
eventually
he'd
just
fall
asleep.
When I
got
home, 3
hours
later, I
was
informed
that the
screaming
lasted
well
over an
hour. I
figured
he had
suffered
enough,
so I
pulled
out his
beloved
blanket,
once
again
glistening
white
and
soft,
and
brought
it into
his
room. I
discovered
that, in
his
blanket-less
rage, he
had
thrown
out his
sister's
blanket.
And his
stuffed
animal
collection.
And his
pillow.
And his
bedsheet.
And his
pajamas.
And his
diaper.
He was
just
lying
there,
asleep
on his
stomach,
his
naked
butt in
the air.
Amazingly,
he
hadn't
peed, or
he would
have
given
himself
a nice
little
shower.
I got
him up,
dressed
him,
made his
bed...
and gave
him his
beloved
blanket.
His face
lit up
as he
cradled
it,
saying
"My
blanket!
Oh,
thank
you so
much,
daddy!"
and
immediately
fell
back
asleep
with a
satisfied
smirk on
his
face.
Just
think,
in 2-3
months,
I'll
have to
go
through
this all
over
again.