Little Red Boots & Winnie the Pooh

Every little kid seems to have some material thing that they love so much that they won’t let it go. This item comes to signify comfort or safety, so that they won’t go anywhere without it. When it’s lost, they will cry for hours until you find it. And forget about sharing it with anyone else.

This may be a particular toy, stuffed animal, blankie, passifier, or article of clothing. You may still even remember that one object that brought you so much joy as a child. Sometimes it’s a phase that you grow out of, sometimes we cherish these items even when we are adults because they remind us of when we were children.

For my youngest sister “B”, it was her red rain boots and Winnie the Pooh blanket.

There was a time in B’s life, when she was about 4-5, that she absolutely loved her red rain boots. She wouldn’t wear any other shoe. She would wear these red boots with jeans, sweat pants, dresses, everything. No matter how much we pleaded, she wouldn’t take them off. It’s almost impossible to reason with a child when they are unconditionally attached to something. Eventually she grew out of them and she couldn’t wear them anymore. But even today, when I think of B as a little girl I think of her in those red rain boots. If I can find a picture, I'll be sure to post it.

When my oldest brother was born, he received a pristine new quilt with a pattern of Winnie the Pooh. My mother used it for all of my siblings and B was the last one to have it. By this time, the colors had faded and the batting had gotten a little lumpy. But B loved this blanket. She would take it everywhere. She needed to have it for naptime, bedtime, or when there was a storm and she was scared. However, unlike with her rain boots, this wasn’t a habit that she quickly grew out of. To this day, even though she is now in college, B still has her Winnie the Pooh blanket on her bed.

When I make blankets for Timberleigh Baby, I think back to that old tattered Winnie the Pooh blanket. (I wish I could still find the fabric!) I want my blankets to have a story, to be treasured. I don’t expect them to be heirlooms, or passed down from generation to generation like some exquisite piece of jewelry. I don’t even expect that people will remember who made it. But I do hope that these blankets will provide some amount of comfort or joy to a child who needs it. And someday when a mother is recounting a story to her then-grown child she’ll say, “Remember that blanket you used to have? It was your favorite.”