Kaleb's "Kie"

Before Kaleb was born, my husband bought him Winnie-the-Pooh blanket that matched the bedding I had picked out early in my pregnancy. We used it from time to time, but we never thought it would become such an important part of our lives.

When Kaleb was just over a year old, he became very attached to this blanket for no apparant reason. He had to have it every night to go to sleep. When he started talking, he called it his "kie" (pronounced key); short for blankie. He carried his kie everywhere. I worked weekends at this time, and my husband was in school. I got a surprising phone call one Saturday morning from my husband. He couldn't figure out what Kaleb wanted. He said that Kaleb was standing in front of his crib saying something that he couldn't understand. Through the phone I heard what sounded like "mah kie, mah kie." So I told Matthew that Kaleb wanted his blanket. He said, "No way; how did you figure that out?" Well, because I'm his mother, that's how. So began our journey with Kaleb's "kie."

He took his kie to Disneyworld. I don't just mean that he had in the car or the hotel room, but he took it to every park in Disneyworld. A three-year-old sucking his thumb with a flannel blanket in July in Florida. He used as a shield from all of the characters that scared him. He particularly remembers using it to "hide" from Maleficient during a show in front of Cinderella's castle.

He still likes to take his kie everywhere. We've tried to curb him taking it inside public places and on short car trips, but he sometimes still insists. On Monday, Kaleb started second grade. Before he left, he stopped and looked at his kie and said, "Don't be scared; I'll be home soon." I suddenly realized that he wasn't talking to the blanket, he was talking to himself. That blanket has provided such a sense of security for him because it's always been there no matter what. My husband and I both have jobs with an hour long commute, I work twelve hour shifts, we've moved several times over the past seven years, and our town was destroyed by a tornado. One of the only things that's lasted through all of that for Kaleb is his kie.

So while it may bother some that a child as old as Kaleb still has a security blanket, I'm going to try to be more understanding. My parent's house is gone now, and all that I have are the memories of growing up there. Kaleb has his kie. I'm sure that one day he'll put it down and forget it about, but he'll always have the sense of security that it gives him.