Gifted Issues Discussion homepage
Posted By: Ann Sleep & Comfort Items - 02/18/08 03:04 AM
What does your child take to bed?

When DS2 started daycare his teacher told me I could pack a toy or blanket (comfort item) for him to sleep with. I told her I did. I put a pack of post-its in his bag. She gave me a funny look. smirk

DS has had �sticky� radar since he was a baby. Stickers on produce, tape on coffee bags, they�re all fair game. DS will fall asleep pressing on the backside of a sticker.

When he was little we�d hand him a roll of 100+ stickers and watch him twirl it really fast (imagine unrolling a roll of toilet paper) until he got to the sticker he wanted. It was awhile before we noticed DS was taking the same sticker from the beginning to the end of the roll (the pattern repeats at intervals). Once he exhausted all of a particular kind of sticker he�d pick his next favorite and repeat the same cycle.
Posted By: Grinity Re: Sleep & Comfort Items - 02/18/08 11:23 AM
LOL Ann!
Too funny! Yes our kids are normal, but only if you squint and look at a small chunk of the popluation. Hate those funny looks, though!

Smiles,
Grinity
Posted By: crisc Re: Sleep & Comfort Items - 02/18/08 05:38 PM
Very funny!

My oldest son (5) has actually had various comfort items throughout his life. Right now he needs 3 of his friends in bed with him, a stuffed spider, his penguin Webkins, and a stuffed turtle. Besides stuffed animals his radio/CD player is probably the only constant. From lullaby CD's to High School Musical Soundtrack to now Sporting Events on the radio he need the noise to fall asleep.

My middle child (3.5), my only daughter, has had the same duck blanket since she was an infant. It's head has been sew on many times.

My baby boy (20 months) has a blue blanket with silk edges that he drags around the house. I don't seem him giving it up anytime soon.
Posted By: elh0706 Re: Sleep & Comfort Items - 02/18/08 05:53 PM
Mine needs his fish light on at night. It is one of those revolving lights that looks like a fake aquarium. He has a stuffed tiger that he was given as a gift when he was born that holds a place of honor on a shelf to look out for him. He doesn'tsleep with it anymore because he is afraid it will break.
Posted By: elh0706 Re: Sleep & Comfort Items - 02/18/08 05:55 PM
Oh, he also has about 5 special stuffed animals that all have a use. One helps to turn bad dreams into good dreams. One helps him feel better when he is sick, etc...
Posted By: Kriston Re: Sleep & Comfort Items - 02/18/08 06:04 PM
My kids have never been much for comfort items. DS6 was a thumb-sucker, however. He popped his thumb in his mouth whenever he was tired or thinking hard. It was always funny to see him considering some problem, gears turning like mad in his head, with his thumb in his mouth. Then he'd remove the thumb with a loud "pop!" and come up with some incredibly well-thought-out answer. The thumb in the mouth always made it that much more surprising to people when he said something utterly GT. He seemed like such a baby to them because he was sucking his thumb, and then he sounded so grown-up. I always thought it was really funny.

DS6 was about 2.5 and was potty-trained, and the dentist started telling me that it was time for him to stop sucking his thumb because it might deform his mouth. "Don't tell me," I said, "tell him!"

The dentist looked at me like I was crazy, but he started delivering a HIGHLY dumbed-down version of the same speech he had been giving me. I translated it back up into mature speech. DS6 took the thumb out of his mouth right then and never once put it back in. Not once! I even checked on him in bed when he was asleep, and he never had his thumb in his mouth again.

I have to say that even though I knew him and knew how determined he was about stuff, even I was amazed that he broke a habit of 2.5 years in about 3 seconds! I wanted to bottle whatever he had and give it to smokers and drug addicts! It still seems incredible to me!

That's our best comfort story...Other than that, we're pretty boring!
© Gifted Issues Discussion Forum