Let’s review the statistics:

Logan -

Pacifiers: Logan had a paci until he was about 6 months old. We took it away because he just tossed it out of his crib to get us to come back in and give it to him. After the paci’s were gone, everyone slept much better!

Loveys: (and by this I mean blankies, animals etc): We used to encourage Logan to bond to this cute little mouse we got when I was pregnant with him, but to no avail. He really never had anything like a security blanket or a favorite stuffed animal. When he was 3, Nana and Papa took him to a movie and he won a cat, whom he later named Checkers, out of one of those claw grabber machines. A few months later, he added Scruffy to “his crew”…a dog we created with him at Build a Bear on Valentine’s Day last year. He likes them, but doesn’t freak if they’re missing.

Aiden -

Pacifiers: Aiden had a paci all the time until 6 months and then only at nap & bedtime after that until we took it away around 20 months (based on the advice of our pediatrician at his 18 month appointment). Aiden used to be a dream to put down at night…but not after he lost his paci! Obviously he’s fine now, but still a total pill about going to bed.

Loveys: Again, no attachments to blankets and that sort of thing, but Aiden did have an odd attachment to an egg for a while. We used to have to show him that we were putting a small bouncy ball inside of a small orange (had to be orange) egg and then that small egg into a larger orange egg. He also used to have random bedtime requests like “goose”. That was the night after we went and fed the geese along the river. Brian finally got him to calm down and go to sleep by giving him a picture of a goose that he printed from the internet. Even today, Aiden doesn’t do stuffed animals. He will, however, sleep with one of his many many many stretchy lizards or a stuffed basketball (which he got as a trade when the pacifiers were taken away)

Brady -

Pacifiers: Like his brothers, Brady was given free reign of paci’s until 6 months. At that time, we tried to restrict it to only nap and bedtime. But that kid was so darned cranky without it that I went ahead and gave it to him from time to time. When he learned how to crawl and manage the stairs, he would go up to his room, crawl under his bed and retrieve pacifiers. I even saw him stick his hand through the crib bars and flip the sheet until a pacifier came close enough to the edge where he could grab it. Even today, I can get him to leave them in his crib, but he will go and get them later if I forget to close his door. Every time he gets hurt or upset, he starts whimpering, “paci! paci! paaaaci!” I found out yesterday that he has given them names. This is the text of an email I wrote to Brian and my friend Anne (mom to Matthew….aka “Chewy” who is just under a year old right now):

I found a bunch of pacifiers in my purse this morning and had them downstairs in a little pile. When it was time to take Brady up to his nap, I grabbed them and held them out to him. He took most of them in his hand and put a green one in his mouth. Then he mumbled, "I got Lonan (Logan)". While I was changing him on his table, I kept holding up different paci's and he would tell me who they were. We had: Lonan, Aynan (Aiden), mommy and Chewy...which he also kept just calling "baby". No wonder he's so attached to them...they're obviously his buddies. I was dying laughing when he said "Chewy". I said, "oh...that's chewy!?" and he did his little "u-hu" and nodded.

I think Brady will probably have his paci friends until he’s old enough to negotiate their removal for something he wants more…wonder what that’s gonna be!! So far he has no loves that we can’t satisfy with things already in the house (trains for example!)

Loveys: As she has done for each of my boys, Nana gave Brady a bear when he was born. He must have “discovered” this bear again about 2 months ago and started sleeping with him, carrying him around the house and taking him on occasional outings. It was hard to get him to pick a name, but his tag says he’s made by a company called Jelly Cat. Opting for something besides the “George” the older boys suggested, I named him Jelly Bear. He has big sqooshy feet filled with beans or something and Brady LOVES him. So far he won’t freak if “Jelbear” isn’t in his bed, but I usually go get him and bring him to Brady after I’ve laid him down at night. He smiles like a maniac, grabs him and presses his cheek into the bear. Adorable.

He’s just a lovey sort of baby I guess!

This was Sunday morning. Logan and Brady were watching Thomas. Bray had his paci and Jelly Bear on the couch. I included this picture to also demonstrate one of Logan’s little idiosyncrasies: playing with other people’s ears.

Hugging Jelly Bear (that paci, by the way, is apparently Aiden)

I wanted a shot without something in his face. Notice the eyes…they are focused on my hand, which is holding his paci!