Mr. Bananas #2 has taken up residence

Peyton was sick on Friday night and threw up many times. We changed her sheets and jammies a few times before she fell asleep. Before Mark and I went to bed, we checked on her again and she had puked in her sleep and was covered in it. We had to change her sheets and since the washing machine was already churning with pukey laundry, we left a pile waiting for later, a pile that included Mr. Bananas, Peyton's stuffed monkey, constant bedtime companion, travel buddy, friend. She woke up at 1:30am to throw up and then asked me for Mr. Bananas. I had taken all of her "friends" out of the bed because most of them are not machine washable. She was really upset when I told her he was waiting to be washed.....so I caved and pulled out Mr. Bananas #2, the spare we bought once we saw how attached she was to B1. (Mr. Bananas was a gift from Aunt Jane and he quickly became Peyton's favorite friend.)

We used to switch back and forth between the two Bananas until Peyton chewed holes in B1's ears, chewed off the end of his tail, and pulled the string that makes up his mouth halfway off of his head. We then pretty much stuck with B1 and left B2 in the closet, hidden with P2 (Mr. Peanuts #2, Liam's spare elephant. I like to think of them having a party together in the closet when we're not home.) As soon as I handed B2 to her, she curled herself around him and went right to sleep. We washed B1 the next day and I asked her what she wanted me to do about the two monkeys. I was sure she would give back pristine B2 in favor of B1, who has been "loved" to pieces. She decided she wanted to keep B2 and asked me to put B1 in her stuffed animal barrel. We ended up putting him on a shelf. She really wanted to have both in her bed, but I can't be responsible for traveling with two Mr. B's! It's too much work to keep track of one sometimes.

I think I am sadder about this than anyone in the house. Somehow I feel like a chunk of her babyhood is gone and she's turning into a kid, and she's not my baby girl anymore. The day will come when she'll want to empty her room of all of the toys and stuffed animals in favor of books and other more grown-up things. I love to see how she is growing, but I'm not quite ready for her to be grown up.