You may have noticed this adorable little stuffed giraffe showing up in a bunch of pictures over the last few months, well that my friends is Baffy. He is the newest member of our family and an extremely essential part of our happiness and sanity.
Baffy joined our family in February when a friend gave it to Hagen for his birthday. Hagen was instantly attached to that thing. It is not coincicedental that he would chose this particular item to be attached to. The reason being; it symbolizes a day of two opposite extremes in emotion for my friend and I. I went into labor with Hagen during the funeral of my sweet friend's brother. While her heart was completely broken and the ache she was feeling was something I hope to never know for myself, I was feeling the overwhelming joy and happiness that comes with giving birth to a beautiful healthy baby. It is a day that I will never forget, and I think that remembering my friend and her family will always be a part of Hagen's birthday for me.
Neither of my other two kids have ever really been attached to anything aside from binkys, but I don't count that. This is a true love attachment. Baffy goes everywhere with us, sometimes I have to explain to Hagen that Baffy has to sit in the car while we go somewhere or another so he can nap. Hagen is usually not too happy about this. We have had multiple nights of scouring the whole house for a missing Baffy just to silence the wailing. Weston and I found ourselves in bed one night with the 3 a.m giggles because we had just realized how ridiculous it was that we spent 20 minutes in the middle of the night looking for a stuffed giraffe. (That was hiding in the pantry mind you!)
A few nights ago I saw Hagen wandering outside with Baffy tucked under his usual right arm. I had the fleeting thought to bring Baffy in before he was lost. I didn't follow this important prompting and when bedtime came around, Baffy was nowhere to be found. There was mourning, wailing, and nashing of teeth by a very upset two year old. He wouldn't go to sleep without Baffy. Every yard light was on and I looked under every step, scoured the whole yard and dug around in the sandbox for that thing. No luck. I tried to rock and sooth Hagen, not happening. An hour later another fleeting thought sent me up to the toy room where I found the missing giraffe. Hagen instantly stopped crying and said, "Ooo that was scary huh mom? Baffy almost got lost."
One afternoon at Grandma Patti's house, Hagen left Baffy sitting on the couch and went outside to play. Aunt Emilee sat in the spot where Baffy was and so she picked it up and set in on her lap. Hagen came in to check on Baffy and yelled a few two year old profanities at his aunt for touching his giraffe. Wow!
Every extended family member knows the importance of Baffy. I stopped out at my mom's the other day, we were there for a few minutes and then headed home. On the highway Hagen was whining and crying about something that I couldn't understand. I thought he was just hungry. Then my mom called to tell me that we left Baffy there. That was what the whining was about. We turned around and went and got him and then there was peace in our world again.
I think it is a little cute to watch Hagen be so in love with this thing. I told my friend that I didn't know whether to thank her or curse her for the gift. The same object that can cause a lot of discomfort and crying for us also causes more soothing than a pacifier ever did. Heaven forbid we ever lose Baffy for real. Good thing Katie assured us she has an identical spare!
No comments:
Post a Comment