The Saga of the Purple Kitty Pillow

Many of you may have heard me talk about Benjamin's purple kitty pillow, but for those who don't know the whole story, let me start at the beginning. Sometime last summer Benjamin and I were shopping for a birthday present for his friend Grace. Since it was Grace's 1st birthday, and she's such a girly girl, I decided to buy this furry little pink kitty pillow. Benjamin, who is always fond of furry things, decided that he also needed to have a pillow. So, since I am such a pushover, I found the most boyish one I could find.....a turquoise colored pillow with a purple kitty.

Benjamin loved this pillow from the very beginning. He wouldn't even let go of it long enough to put it in a Toys R Us bag....he hugged it all the way to the car and all the way home. He dragged the pillow around the house and at some point, I decided it would be cute to put it in his crib. A decision I am sorely regretting! Ever since that first nap with the puple kitty pillow, he will not...CAN not sleep without his purple kitty pillow!

Now I wasn't too annoyed by this new pillow habit. It was sort of cute at first. Then it became just a little weird....he has to get the pillow....kitty faced down.....put it in the left upper corner of the crib, just right before he deems it perfect for sleeping. And even still this wasn't a problem until......the pillow became dirty!! I hadn't even considered this possibility....you can't WASH a purple kitty pillow in the washing machine!! So after some research on the internet I decided I would wash the surface of the pillow with some Woolite and let it air dry. I knew eventually I would have to put the pillow in the laundry....that drool and stuff doesn't just stick to the outside of the pillow! But I become paralyzed by fear.....what if the pillow became ruined??? How would Benjamin ever sleep again?!?!

So today was the day....at naptime we attempted to put him down without the pillow so I could wash it....yea RIGHT!!! He's no dummy....he was NOT going to go down without that pillow. So since Nate and I both wanted a little nap too....we gave him the pillow back. We realized we were going to have to find a temporary substitute! After naptime we headed to Toys R Us...our choices were.....a purple pillow with the word "Cutie" written in cursive pink lettering, a pink poodle pillow and....YEA...a blue bear pillow!! PERFECT!! We showed the bear to Benjamin and it met with his approval (although it was dropped within seconds of seeing a racetrack that appeared more interesting!)

So tonight is the night....we snuck the purple kitty pillow out of Benjamin's room without him seeing. I put the blue bear pillow in it's place. After Nate put Benjamin in his pajamas and read a story he put him in bed. Initially Benjamin picked up the pillow and said "no....nope....lillow?" but when Nate wouldn't give in (yea Nate!) Benjamin finally resigned himself to sleeping on the blue bear pillow. Wish us luck that it works!!! Now I just have to figure out what to buy to get him over the Blue Bear Pillow eventually!!! A problem for another day....