Friday, December 19, 2008

The Story of Nee Nee



Each of my girls has been a thumb sucker from the beginning. They each have also chosen a different fabric type that they like to snuggle. Kiera's was flannel. She had a pink gingham blanket with butterflies and flowers on the back that I gradually cut into smaller pieces. She was forever losing them and when she was about 3, there were two squares left. I tucked one away in her special keepsake box and told her to keep an eye on her blanky, when it was gone, it was gone. Right around 3.5 she stopped sucking her thumb and lost the use for blanky.



Lily likes t-shirt fabric. She was fairly flexible and would use any receiving blanket, she had a pink pooh blanket for awhile and then when we were in Colorado, she fell in love with a pink blanky with a CU Buff on the corner(that's my girl). -When she started talking, she had trouble saying blanky- she always said "nee-nee" and that is what we started calling it. As she got bigger and more mobile, I considered cutting the nee-nee down- but this would require more extensive edging and I was unsure I could pull it off. She was still fairly flexible to substitutions, so I introduced a pink Dora fabric. It took. And THE nee nee was born.


When Bella was born, my friend Drea embroidered her name on a velvety pink blanky with a satin on the other side. This is Bella's favorite. Since Lily called hers nee-nee, Bella started calling her blanky nee-nee as well.


Well, after awhile I decided it was time to cut Lily's nee nee. I had no idea that she favored the edge with the pattern print copyright on it. I merely cut it in half one day. She didn't notice. Another day I put her half in the wash and when she asked for it, supplied the other half- as I had done many times with Kiera. She looks at it, turns it over and around. Where are the letters? I want my nee nee with the letters. Shoot. Well now I knew. So when I cut nee- nee, I left an edge with letters. We gradually got down to 2 nee nees. And then Lily got sick. I needed more nee nees. I found the fabric and didn't realize how well- loved nee nee was. The new fabric has been washed and dried many times and still doesn't pass for the beloved nee nee unless we are really in a bind. In Lily's words " I like my nee nee with the letters and I put it in my nose and my ear and it's dirty." So there you have it. The story of nee nee.

1 comment:

  1. I'm beginning to wonder if Li-Fraumeni is not the only genetic anomaly in the Connolly family-I too was a thumb sucker and lover of dirty pillowcases for many years.

    I hope you guys all have a great Christmas and that Lily gets to celebrate at home where she belongs!

    Love you and miss you!

    ReplyDelete

Lily Kay Monkey

Lily Kay Monkey
November 2008 Photographed by Shelley Detton (7 Layer Studio)