Preston's Pony

I mentioned in an earlier post that Preston loves to tug at my hair. I'm sad to say that he doesn't just love it, he's literally obsessed with it. I've heard that babies usually get attached to a special blanket, stuffed animal, or even their pacifier, but I never thought they would get attached to something attached to me!

When I was in Utah Preston was getting his fourth bottom tooth in and wasn't sleeping very well. It probably didn't help that I was sleeping in the same room as him, but he would just scream and scream until I picked him up, held him over my shoulder, and let him rub my hair in between his thumb and first finger. He also has a habit of putting it in his mouth and slobbering all over it. He refused lay down to go back to sleep without my hair close to him so he ended up sleeping in bed with me most of the time we were there. The night we got home from Utah our flight came in late so he was already asleep when we got in, and once again he wouldn't sleep without my hair close by. I had let him get hooked!

So out of desperation I decided to try an experiment. I pulled out my old BYU Barbie and put it in his crib with him when I layed down and amazingly it worked. He grabbed onto her hair right away and started tugging, rubbing, and sucking (gross, I know). That now he slept for ten hours straight without getting up to eat! This was heaven for me after two weeks of feeding during the night every three hours or so.

After that I made up my mind that Preston would from now on sleep with a Barbie, but I didn't want him destroying my nice collectors item and I'm not so sure how I feel about having my 8 month old sleeping with scantily clad women. So I ventured into target looking for something a little less girly, and maybe softer to sleep with and this was all I could find... a pony with a purple saddle. That doesn't look girly at all, right?Preston loves his pony and since I got it hasn't had any trouble sleeping at all, except when he drops it out of his crib before he falls asleep of course. Then things like this happen.I went into his room to check on him after he had fallen asleep for his morning nap and he was laying there bare legs and all,

with his pants rumpled in the corner.

I was wondering why he was being kind of fussy before he fell asleep. Now I know. Pajamas pants definately weren't a good enough subsitute for his favorite pony. As you can see I made sure to replace it in his crib so he wouldn't wake up in a frenzy. I don't know what I'm going to do with this kid.

Unfortunately the pony hasn't completely replaced my hair as a comfort considering the fact that he still reaches for it every time he nurses (which is quite a funny sight), or any time I hold him for that matter. But at least it's contributing in some way.