Loveys

Way back in the dark ages when Henry was still waking every 2 hours around the clock and I was in extreme sleep-deprivation mode, we introduced a "lovey" to Henry to try and help his sleep. Essentially, a lovey is a transitional object to help them sleep without you. We gave Henry a little blanket with an animal head on it. Actually, he has 4: a frog, an elephant, a bear, and a monkey (just in case we lose one, you need a back up!)

I don't know how much the lovey helped him sleep back then, but lately he seems to have finally "adopted" his loveys as a security object. He falls asleep with them either over his face, or sucking on them (as shown in the photo above). We keep one of them out with his toys in the living room and he has started crawling around with it in his mouth. The blue elephant seems to be his favorite.

Today was the latest development in the lovey relationship. Yes, Henry has learned to FLING the lovey out of his crib at nap time and then scream inconsolably because the lovey is now on the floor. Ah, the joy of youth!

So this begs the question - what do you do? Do I go in and give him the lovey back to help him go to sleep (and this child has been a POOR napper lately, so every 30 minute catnap is a blessing)? Do you let him cry, thus teaching him that flinging objects out of his crib just leads to them being gone for nap time? Is he even able to make that connection at this age? Will this make him even more determined to climb out of the crib than he already is???? Have I created a lovey-loving monster who will soon be like Peanut's Linus dragging his blue elephant everywhere he goes? What crazy psychological damage have I done to our child by forcing a lovey on him but then not picking it up for him when he flings it????

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And, the ultimate question: who knew that the questions of parenthood could make you so insane????