There's something I need to get off my chest. I'm a thirty-one year old man and I recently began sleeping with a stuffed animal. I'm Evie's Dad, Will, and am happy to be sharing my bed with a fuzzy little duck name Howard. And yes, I named him…see what I did there? When we started putting Evie into her crib to sleep on her own we thought it would be comforting for her to have the same stuffed animal with her each time and we just so happened to pick the cutest damn one we had. Luckily she took to Howard pretty quickly and they are pretty much inseparable now, at least during her non-waking hours.
Evie and I have developed a little ritual whenever she wakes up in the morning or from a nap. When I go into her room I greet her with a little song as I so rudely turn on the light. She typically flashes a huge smile through squinted eyes and then dive bombs her head back into the crib mattress until her eyes adjust. As she groggily starts to pull herself together she begins to grab onto the side of the crib and stand up. This is always adorable because she kind of gets her feet caught up in her sleep sack and it takes a few tries to actually get her feet under her. Howard is usually in tow for the journey up the side of the crib and I always lean in at this point and give her a smooch on the noggin. Never wanting to leave anyone out, she flashes another toothy grin and thrusts Howard in my face so that he can share the love as well. I'll then greet him and give him a big wet one too, much to Evie's delight. She'll pull him back for a quick hug or foot nibble and then gleefully push him back toward me for another round of kisses. Sometimes we go back and forth like this for quite a while and I must admit, I love it…almost as much as I loved having her share our bed. But I can settle for spending my nights with Howard. He's much better at sleeping in my armpit and rarely kicks me in the face.
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| Evie hanging with Howard |
I should clarify…I technically sleep with two stuffed animals, but don't worry, not both at the same time. You see we received some sage advice early-on from some other new parents: to identify Evie's favorite toy or furry friend and stock up on them in case the unthinkable were to happen. You know, getting left in a McDonald's parking lot somewhere off I-65 in Indiana. So we have two Howards. I like to think of it as a rotating President/Vice President relationship that they share, where one is always ready to step in for the other and fill the role of Evie's pal. She seems to spend the better part of each night sucking on Howard's feet, which necessitates frequent baths and a call to the second-in-command. Here's where I came into the picture.
When Evie was very small (let's be honest, she's still very small) we liked to think that she missed us at bed and nap time. Unfortunately I think we're just now beginning to feel the effects of separation anxiety, and we may have grossly underestimated them, but that's another subject for another day. Liz suggested that maybe we could put something in her crib that smelled like one of us, preferably me so Evie wouldn't get a hankering for a midnight snack. Who better to grace with my musk than the yellow little guy that we were grooming as Evie's best bud. Well it worked. And I've got to be honest, I really like having Howard in bed with us. It makes me feel a little closer to Evie even though I know she's just on the other side of our wall. When Evie was co-sleeping there was nothing sweeter than to wake up to her little head nestled into my armpit. It was just great. I've never been so happy to be sleep deprived. There was something so comforting about being kicked in the face in the middle of the night, but waking up to see our little beauty sleeping (and sometimes even snoring, that was my favorite) peacefully between us. I think…strike that, I know both Liz and I miss those days.
Evie and I have developed a little ritual whenever she wakes up in the morning or from a nap. When I go into her room I greet her with a little song as I so rudely turn on the light. She typically flashes a huge smile through squinted eyes and then dive bombs her head back into the crib mattress until her eyes adjust. As she groggily starts to pull herself together she begins to grab onto the side of the crib and stand up. This is always adorable because she kind of gets her feet caught up in her sleep sack and it takes a few tries to actually get her feet under her. Howard is usually in tow for the journey up the side of the crib and I always lean in at this point and give her a smooch on the noggin. Never wanting to leave anyone out, she flashes another toothy grin and thrusts Howard in my face so that he can share the love as well. I'll then greet him and give him a big wet one too, much to Evie's delight. She'll pull him back for a quick hug or foot nibble and then gleefully push him back toward me for another round of kisses. Sometimes we go back and forth like this for quite a while and I must admit, I love it…almost as much as I loved having her share our bed. But I can settle for spending my nights with Howard. He's much better at sleeping in my armpit and rarely kicks me in the face. 
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