Why a Lovey?

Christina asked why I want a lovey for Ryan after my last post. I started to explain it in my comments, but the answer got pretty long and I thought it deserved it's own post.

At first I did a little bit of encouraging with different animals because I'm pregnant. I read an article that said children who interact with dolls relate better to a baby sibling. I figured if he developed an attachment to an animal it would have similar benefits. Plus that means I don't have to have the "I want to buy a doll for our little boy" talk with Jay. I wasn't really worried about it at first. I thought 'what could it hurt' and 'if it doesn't happen...oh, well' all at the same time. Before Ryan didn't pay any attention to his stuffed animals except on rare occasion he would bring one of the ones that sings to an adult for them to squeeze. When he started showing a bit of interest in his animals right after I read that article I thought it was a great opportunity to try it out. So I encouraged him by noticing and asking him about his animals when he picked them up. I think once I asked him if he wanted to take Huggy Bear to bed. He said no and I dropped it. At some point during the talking about his animals he was hugging the bear and I said, 'That bear is very huggable. Do you think we should call him Huggy Bear?' Ryan said yes and gave him a big hug. It wasn't until the attachment with Doggy that I really stepped up the mission. I started asking him if he wanted Huggy Bear at story time, then he would take HB to bed. Pretty soon he was asking for Huggy Bear. Now he gives Huggy Bear some of his drinks, feeds him snack sometimes and shows him airplanes and other interesting things.


I guess the short answer is I really wanted him to have it so he wouldn't have the problems with Doggy, but I had thought it might be nice if he had one to "practice" loving a little sibling.