Pranatee Shah Week 15 - Ducky Blankie
You all are probably sick of hearing me talk about blankets. I know my first blog of this quarter was about my prized Frozen themed childhood blanket. But, hear me out guys. As a child, snuggles were LIFE. I snuggled Sophie, Daisy, Elfie, Softy, Piggie, Duckie, and Sealie (my stuffies) every night. I couldn’t fall asleep without goodnight snuggles from my mom. And, my Ducky Blankie.
Now don’t get this confused. The duck blanket came before the blanket I wrote about previously. I used it from around 3 to 6 years old. The blanket I've mentioned in previous blogs has been my love from 7 years old to the current day.
I LOVED this blanket. So, so, so much. Toddlers often form attachments with objects that comfort them, and mine was this Ducky Blankie. It was small, white, and covered in little yellow ducks. I slept with it every night without fail.
Then, I turned six. It was time to leave Alphabet Soup Preschool behind and enter kindergarten at Collins Elementary.
“Pranatee, you won’t be allowed into kindergarten unless you let go of your Ducky Blankie,” my mom tells me.
I was absolutely heartbroken. I couldn’t let Ducky Blankie just go away like that!
So, we had a funeral.
At that time, I owned a toy crib where I put all my stuffies to sleep. I placed this toy crib in the middle of our apartment’s living room, and after lots of crying and complaining, gave one last snuggle to Ducky Blankie and put it in the toy crib.
This was probably tiny Pranatee’s first major heartbreak. My six-year-old self was crushed, and so furious that kindergarteners couldn’t own Ducky Blankies.
Now, let's fast track to around seven years later. I was thirteen, living in the Fremont home we just moved to. At this time, I had obviously outgrown all my old stuffed animals. Ducky Blankie was ancient history, a story to laugh at and make fun of. My grandma was visiting for the winter and it was her birthday, so I decided to massage her feet and give her a relaxing pedicure. At the end of the pedicure, I saw there was still some excess oil on her feet from my massage.
“Mamma I need a towel to wipe Dadi's feet!!” I yelled.
My mom then went to the garage and began searching. After rummaging around for some time, she throws a rag at me.
“Here Pranatee, I found this cloth. It’s old, so you can get it dirty.”
I look down.
IT WAS MY DUCKY BLANKIE.
I was flabbergasted. Obviously, I wasn’t mad or anything. The duck blanket was old history and I had no emotional connection to it whatsoever.
But it was so funny.
Till this day, I’ve always found it absolutely hilarious that my mom would agree to doing an entire living-room funeral and making my six year old self feel like it was the end of the world all just to not let go of the blanket herself! My mom is a very sentimental person, which is probably why she preserved Ducky Blankie all these years.
Ducky Blankie is one of my funniest memories, and even though it has officially been demoted to a foot-drying rag, its memory will live on forever.
 |
| This is an image from the Ducky Blankie funeral. |
Pranatee, your childhood stories are adorable and hilarious; I need more of them. They remind me of my sister; she similarly loved her stuffed animals as a kid. That being said, I can’t necessarily relate to any of these stories. I was never really attached to my childhood toys, stuffed animals, or blankets, so it’s hard for me to understand the connection you describe. I’m guessing that children generally love blankets and stuffed animals because they’re soft, warm, and cozy, but I also wonder why some kids don’t get attached.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that gender roles are related to whether kids get attached to stuffed animals, as I feel like boys are expected to “grow up” and not be attached to stuffed animals and the like.
Also, out of curiosity, where did you grow up? I’ve never heard of Collins Elementary or Alphabet Soup Preschool; I’m assuming you didn’t grow up in the Bay Area?
Hey Pranatee! We are so similar when it comes to holding onto childhood items such as blankets and stuffed animals! I used to be embarrassed to sleep with my giant beanie boos and fluffy animals, but when I saw you blog, I immediately felt better. I keep them by my bed and use them for arm support (not actually sleeping with them anymore), but it’s always a nice reminder of the child within me. I remember finding my old beanie baby that I used to sleep with daily when I was younger, and seeing it again made me so emotional as I missed being that age so much. It gave me comfort and happiness, whenever I felt scared or sick, so it holds lots of memories in my mind. I totally understand what you mean when you were heartbroken letting go of your blankets as well, since I’ve used the same one since I was young as well. Blankets are just like stuffed animals to me too, as they provide warmth whenever I feel cold, and I can always rely in them. Thanks for reminding us that it’s okay to keep our childhood close with us!
ReplyDeleteHey Pranatee! What an adorable story! I could tell how attached you were to duckie blankie by the heartbroken expression on your face in the photograph. It’s so crazy how the things we were so attached to in our childhood become almost impossible to remember later on. Or the sentimental value they once held are now mere facets of our memory. As a child, I was obsessed with Beanie Boos, or “ty’s” and my sister and I called it. Every Christmas and every birthday meant another ty and it was the most exciting thing to look forward to. I often remembered these stuffed animals by the people who gifted them to me. Each beanie boo was a reminder of the most important people in my life, which is why I developed such a strong material attachment to them. Every night, I would wish each one goodnight and silently feel gratitude for the person that gave it to me. I guess it was my subconscious way of reminding myself how loved I was. My bed was so packed with stuffed animals that my mother was worried that I would get suffocated in my sleep. Anyways, I think as time passes, we turn to attaching ourselves to relationships, friendships, shows, characters…this list goes on. But if I’m being honest, I get attached to so many random things even today, like my clothes. That explains why I’m such a hoarder. It’s a way of holding on to memories even though times have changed. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Pranatee, I enjoyed reading your blog since you did a great job of implementing humor to make your blog enjoyable while making it relatable and nostalgic. I similarly had attachment to some items in my youth like my stuffed animal giraffe which I took with me everywhere I went. I currently still have many of the stuffed animals that I was attached to when I was young; they give me a sense of comfort to this day. The rediscovery of Ducky Blankie years later was a great twist in your blog, and I love how you conclude by reflecting on your mom's sentimentality. This blog was really relatable and fun to read, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete