Daddy Blankie

I think it was originally yellow and blue.  It has small patchwork squares, checkerboard style, with a yarn tie in the center of each square.  Yellow picots trim the edge.  Its current color is more of a very pale yellow and a dull gray. I had to sew completely around the edge because the bottom had worn away from the top.  The fabric is just a woven cotton, but it has been loved so smooth that it almost feels like satin.
Nathan came home from the hospital in it.
Brandon discovered it when he was 5 or 6 and wanted a blanket to cover him but not make him hot.  It was the perfect solution, and was kept on his bed until his legs grew too long for it to cover.
I think I first handed it into Simon's crib as a substitute for one of his little silky blankets that he liked.

But this blanket was not made for Nathan, Brandon, or Simon. 

It was made  3 decades ago for their Daddy.
He doesn't remember much about it except that it was always there, on his bed.
It was his bit of "apron string" that he took to college for comfort.  

Simon has a Linus-like relationship with this blanket.

Rather than steadily growing out of this comfort object, he is steadily becoming more attached.
He calls it his "Daddy-blankie", and finds immense comfort from it.
Sometimes he'll fall asleep with it wrapped up and over his head. 
When it is going through the wash, he misses it. 
And all day long, he plays with it.

"Mom, this is my helmet"  (his blanket is draped up on his head)
"Watch this." (He pushes a pretend button on his chest)
"Chhhht" (And the blanket drops off his head down his back, just like Buzz Lightyear's helmet)

"Mom, can you make an airplane for me?"
I lay his blanket on the floor.  He sits on one edge, his feet toward the middle.
I fold the blanket over his feet, diagonally.  First one side, then the other so that his feet are the point of a triangle and the other points are on either side of him like wings.
Then, he "flies".

At the park, he sees a very large crane across the freeway with a flag on top. 
"Mom, I want to go up there! Can you put this on me?"
I wrap his blankie around his neck and tie it in front.
He flaps his arms.
He flaps them harder.
"Mom, my wings are not working."
So he and Daddy-blankie go off for another adventure on the slide.

Yesterday, he brought me a belt and showed me how he wanted his blankie around his neck, but fastened down on his chest with the belt. 
"Mom, my cake is working!"
"Your cape?"
"Yeah, my cape is working."
a few minutes later...
"Mom fix me, my cape is broken."
I push a "button" on his head.
"No mom, like this. JHHT, Jhht, Jhht."
So I "fix" him like the lug-nut machine at the pit stop on "Cars".
He smiles, "Now press my button."
I push the top of his head, and off he goes.
"I'm working now, mom!"

And he just about CAN'T drink his sippy cup without his blanket around.
"Mom, I need my Baba-stein."
I think this is so funny because I think a stein is a large beer mug, and Simon loves his milk just about that much!
When I was weaning him from a bottle to a sippy cup, I bought him a soft-spout cup with Baby Einstein characters on it.  He had refused any other kind of sippy cup, so I really talked this one up.  I called it his "Einstein Baba", and over time it became "Baba-stein". 
That sippy cup has long since been chewed up and thrown away, and he's not so picky about what he drinks from.  But he still asks for his Baba-stein.
And he always finds his Daddy-blankie to go with it for the ultimate comfort combination.

 Helmet

 Airplane

Cape