A funny thing happens when you have children, you realize that nothing is really "yours" anymore. Of course, you sort of know this when you decide to have kids, but when you try to purchase something for yourself and your child takes it from you, it really hits the point home. That is the case in this story. 

Jerry, Gardner, and I were in a store one day around Halloween. We were just browsing the store, not looking for anything in particular. Then Jerry found this very soft Halloween blanket. He was so excited because Halloween is one of his favorite holidays. It wasn't a very big blanket, but he was excited to purchase it. 

When he bought it, he knew full well that Gardner was a blanket child, not pacifiers, not stuffed animals... blankets. He LOVES soft blankets! He pulls them down from the couch and buries his head in them. He would stroke his blanket as a way to soothe himself to sleep. Needless to say, he is a "blanket baby". 

When we got the blanket home and put it on the couch Gardner was so excited to have it. He took it off the couch, put it on the floor and buried his head in it. While the blanket was intended for Jerry to use in the living room, it hasn't lived there since it entered the house. Instead, Gardner takes it to bed with him every night. 

We laugh about this blanket now as a symbol that items we buy for ourselves is no longer ours anymore, mostly its theirs... the kids'.

I don't think we're getting that blanket back any time soon. Gardner has recently thrown it out of the crib in protest of nap time and was beside himself when he couldn't reach out of the crib to get it back. The Halloween blanket became Gardner's the day we brought it home, and we wouldn't have it any other way.