Little Linus

Parki loves the Binkie. She always has. She is just a Binking kind of Bean. We keep at least five in rotation, like we have today, and when the Beans go down for Happy Nappy or Night-Night, as long as Parki has one in her mouth and one in each fist, then off to sleep she goes. She doesn't Bink all the time-- she just wants to know they're there just in case the Binking mood strikes her. And frequently, she'll spit one out and replace it with the one in her right hand, pick up the one she rejected, spit out the new one, and replace it with the one in her left hand. By morning, all the Binkies usually litter the floor around and under the Beans' cribs and she and Pipsi walk around gathering them to scatter all over the house for me to frantically search for immediately prior to that morning's Happy Nappy. Parki seems to end up with the lion's share because now that the Beans' hands are getting bigger it's easy for her to pop one in her mouth and carry two or three in each hand. There have been times when we've had as many as seven Binkies in the Beans' room at a time. Sometimes one gets left behind in the carseat or stroller and having extra just makes it easier to keep them happy.

Since you're perceptive, you've already said to yourself, "Wait-- five Binkies means that Pipsi only has two. That's not fair!" You're right. We'll momentarily set aside the fact that I don't care that it isn't fair because there's a very good reason Pipsi only usually has two Binkies in her crib. Pipsi doesn't even really need one Binkie. She doesn't need Dolly, she doesn't need Panda, Stick Frog, Fairy Purse, Pink Car or the always-contested, battle-sparking Pink Shoes.

But she must have Soft Blanket. Pippers is a big, big fan of Soft Blanket. Lately she won't go ANYWHERE without a Soft Blanket. She drags one around with her up and down the hall, through the kitchen, into the family room, along on trips Bye-Bye in the Starship Margaret, Bye-Bye in Big Red, and back into my lap for a story. She finds them useful for games of Peek-A-Boo or Where's Pipsi, a game she invented where she pulls Soft Blanket over her head and I say, "Where's Pipsi?" while she takes tiny steps around until she bumps into something and falls down, giggling like a loony tune the whole time. There are a total of eight acceptable candidates for Soft Blanket (we've only bought two-- the rest were all gifts and thank you all SO MUCH!) and right this moment, four of them are in the dryer because Pipsi must now have them in her high chair with her while she enjoys whichever meal's before her. Soft Blanket enjoys these meals too because Soft Blanket's main function is to softly cradle Pipsi's face and head when she plops down on it while softly saying, "Ahhhhhhhh,". Soft Blanket always obliges and Pipsi shows her appreciation by occasionally slobbering the contents of her mouth onto Soft Blanket. When we're all playing together in the Beans' room, Pipsi piles every blanket she can grab on one spot of the floor and faceplants right on top of it, rolling around and wrapping herself in all their Soft Blankety Softness. And sometimes she'll reach for one and I'll hand it to her. She'll look at it and fuss a little more, telling me, "No, not this one, the other one!", and we'll find the other one and she'll push it onto my shoulder and throw herself into my lap. So happy!

Hubby says it's good that we have so many Soft Blankets and Binkies. He's pretty smart like that. He quickly and easily recognizes that Binkies and Blankies are simple things that make the Beans very, very happy and when they're happy, we're happy. We've learned that it's important to see eye-to-eye while raising twins and a middle-schooler; there are three of them and only two of us and they can smell opportunity like sharks can smell blood in the water.

So imagine my surprise last weekend when, as we were enjoying a leisurely stroll downtown and I raced to the window of my favorite consignment shop to scrutinize the handbags in the window, he asked me, "How many purses do you need?"

That's crazy! How many purses do I need?!? That's like asking how many Binkies or Blankies we need!!!! Hubby, you can very quickly and easily determine the answer to that by a brief study of my daughters. The answer is:

One. And that one happens to be whichever one makes me happy at the moment.