Editor's Note: I Kid You Not is a regular column on More Than Medicine, where Lauren shares her experiences of wearing both the hat of a child life specialist and a mother.

by Lauren McCann
Child Life Manager

Security objects are a funny thing for kids.  I have heard stories of kids getting attached to the craziest things, like a shoe or a cell phone.  While I was pregnant, I never really thought about Maddie ever developing an attachment to an object, but we are now realizing the effects of this issue….the effects being on our sanity!!

Maddie has a love for a certain luvie that she named “Babies.”  Yes, it is Babies, plural.  Not singular Baby.  It’s Babies.  Anyway, Babies has been her favorite for as long as we can remember.  It was the first item she gave a name to and the one item she has always asked for.  We knew early on that she was getting attached so we started making some ground rules to prevent her becoming SO attached that she (or we) couldn’t function.  These rules included trying our best to keep Babies in Maddie’s bedroom.  This was to try to keep her to really only “needing” Babies for sleeping.  Well, we (okay, mainly it’s me) are softies when it comes to not letting Maddie take Babies out of the room.  So now the rule has become Babies does not go anywhere other than the confines of our house, our cars, or on overnight trips.  No grocery stores, no daycare, no friend’s houses, no where we can easily misplace it.  Finally, the last rule in place is that Maddie has to give Babies up to us regularly for baths (laundry day).  This is to prevent wear and tear and let’s face it, overall grossness. 

So life was good.  We were all at peace, but then we started becoming pretty nervous at the notion that Babies could get lost or ruined and then what would we do??  This has come on so strong lately because Maddie has woken up twice the past 2 weeks crying like the world was ending because she can’t find her Babies in her crib in the middle of the night.  As soon as we go in and find it for her, she thanks us (she is so sweet) and goes right back to sleep.  This situation is not good for the McCann Parenting Alliance (otherwise known as me and Chris).  If Maddie is that heartbroken over thinking Babies left her in the middle of the night, what will we ever do if it gets misplaced!?!

We have started scouring Google and Carter’s website to find this exact luvie and I can’t believe is as difficult of a task as it is.  Babies is nowhere to be found on the internet, I haven’t seen it in any of the regular baby aisles of different stores and I have no idea who gave it to us during our baby showers.  The search continues as do our constant prayers that we not only keep our child in one piece, but that we also maintain the safety of Babies as well.  This is not just for Maddie’s sake, it is for the sake of our sanity!!

Author’s Note: If you or anyone you know has information about how to purchase the luvie pictured above, please contact the McCann Parenting Alliance ASAP!!