A really bad joke

with WOWO2 at 5 months old

A WOWO and a Blanket walk into a school.

A WOWO and a Blanket get left in the cubby all night long, all by themselves.

Mom freaks out. One of her worst nightmares is realized.

Two-year-old freaks out. She compulsively looks for hours for Blanket and WOWO before bedtime.

If you're waiting for the funny punchline, you're not going to get it. This was our very real and very scary night the other night.

I am that Mom and that compulsive two-year-old is my sweet Miss A who cannot go anywhere without her beloved WOWO and Blanket. School, potty, the store, car rides. You name it. We take them with us. Especially night-night.

So as you can imagine, I found myself nearly hyperventilating when at 7 p.m. I realized we left Blanket and WOWO at school. Under my breath I cursed the teacher, Mrs. B, for bringing my daughter to my son's class for me so I didn't have to make the trek down the hall to get her. Mrs. B interfered with our routine. It got me all discombobulated and I didn't run through my mental checklist of things I do before I leave each of their classrooms. Cursed teacher who was just trying to help!! She would pay for this!

The worst part was that I was by myself for night-night duty. Daddy, who on most nights is in charge of getting Miss A asleep in her bed, was coaching a volleyball game and wouldn't be home until 9 p.m. This is well after bedtime.

One thing that I thought would save us, though, is that we have two WOWOs and our rule is that she can take only one WOWO out of the house at a time. So we still had WOWO2 at home. Yay! I had found my silver lining! I thought it just might be okay. But in true Miss A fashion (stubborn little toot), she carried WOWO2 around while looking for WOWO1 and Blanket. Both of which I was still convinced were at school.

After what seemed like hours of searching I still hadn't gotten up the nerve to tell her the bad news. I was afraid. Very, very afraid. She hadn't been to bed without Blanket and WOWOs since she was about six months old.

I convinced myself that it would be okay for her to stay up past her bedtime - maybe until Daddy got home - and that we would tell her together. Strength in numbers, right?

So I turned on her favorite movie, we got comfy on the couch with WOWO2 -- still sans WOWO1 and Blanket -- and I tried to divert her attention away from "The Search and Rescue Mission." Diversion -- the experts like that term.  My plan was to divert her with the movie until Daddy got home. We were about ten minutes into my plan, and about 45 minutes away from Daddy being home, when she implemented her plan -- another search and rescue mission. I guess she didn't feel like we were thorough enough when we earlier searched the car, her backpack, my closet, the patio, Bubba's room, Bubba's closet, her hamper, the garage, etc.

So she started the search again.

This time, though, she looked behind the toilet in our bathroom. And it's there that she finally found them all balled up in the corner. Little stinker's eyes lit up. She was so proud. I sighed a sigh of relief and mentally apologized to Mrs. B for cursing her. This wouldn't be the night we would have to go to sleep without them.

Sidenote: We spend a lot of time in the potty room these days, so it didn't really surprise me to find them here.

I suppose it's our fault she has a special "attachment" to her WOWOs and Blanket. When we sent her to daycare for the first time at just 12 weeks old, we made sure she was snuggled up next to things that reminded her of us, things that smelled like home, things that would go back and forth with her to provide a sense of Mommy and Daddy at school. So we chose a very special lovey (not yet named WOWO) that was a gift from Uncle Luke and Aunt Alice, and a very special blanket (no capital B at that time, just a blanket) that was a gift from Grammy and Grampy.

Mr. A with his yet-to-be-named lovey at six months

At that time I suppose it was more comfort for us. Now, they comfort her. I don't think there is anything wrong with that.They've been with her through some pretty big milestones.

And although it's a pain some days to keep up with Miss A's, we are doing the same thing with Mr. A. His special not-yet-named lovey goes back and forth with him every day to school.

Kimberlee Norton is a Sr. Communications Specialist with Texas Health Resources and Mom of two.