Lovies

Baby J is at about that age where kids start to develop an affinity for their "lovie." You know, that favorite toy or blanket that they take where ever they go. Like Linus' blanket. Or Knuffle Bunny from the book by Mo Willems.

I think it's a little too early to start saying that Baby J has selected one particular lovie but over the past couple of days she's developed a curious relationship with a small, unopened package of Kleenex.

She clutches it tightly in her little fist as she crawls around the house, stopping periodically to mouth it or slap it around. Baby J has lots of cute bunny toys and a few dolls she could drag around but she seems to prefer the company of the Kleenex. I'm not really sure why.

There's really no way to know what kids will fall in love with. Or why. Human affections (even those in very young children) are mysterious. Who knows why we're attracted to one person and not another?

One of these days, someone is bound to pinpoint the structures in the brain responsible for our emotional attachments. In the not-so-distant future, I bet they'll be mapped through computer models like hurricanes.

Whatever we learn in the future though, it won't really change the fact that these feelings exist in all of us and they represent some of our more endearing qualities. We all have our lovies of one sort or another and we should celebrate that.

Listening To: The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips