Sawyer was born just before Tucker's 4th birthday. I never thought about Sawyer becoming attached to special item like Tucker was. It wasn't long, though before Sawyer too became attached. As a very small baby, Sawyer liked to play with the strings and tags on his blankets, wrapping his fingers around the fringe of carpets and lacing his fingers through frayed towels. He started showing a huge preference to this huge blanket that we kept on our couch that had fringed edges. He wanted to drag it around the house and take it with him when we left the house. Seeing his attachment to the fringed blanket grow, I realized quickly that the gigantic blanket would become burdensome because of it's size. I enlisted Nana to create a baby blanket sized one for Sawyer that would be more portable. Nana was happy to make this creation for Sawyer, so off we went to the fabric store. Knowing that Sawyer specifically loved to play with the fringe on the big blanket, but not knowing exactly which fringe he liked the best, we carried him to let him pick out his own.
Sawyer was still less than a year old, so we were just looking for something that might spark a reaction or that he may seem excited about. The fabric store had a full section with rows of fringe. Oh, we got a reaction alright! He was in fringe loving heaven! We couldn't decide which fringe he liked the most. The end result was a soft green baby blanket, cut in half, edged in a variety of different styles of fringe. This blanket immediately became Sawyer's favorite treasure. 
His blanket was in his hands everywhere he went. The blanket went on vacation with us to Disney World, Texas, Kentucky, and Ohio. It has been tucked into suitcases. It has been stuffed next to Sawyer in strollers. The blanket has gone to restaurants and movies. It has been left in the back of the Cozy Coupe Car, fallen behind the bed frame, tucked into a toybox, and left in a wagon only to finally be discovered after hours of searching. It has been patched up, resewn, and washed countless times. A normal bath for the blanket occurred when Sawyer was occupied with another activity and it could be snuck into the washing machine without him noticing. Many, many times Sawyer could be found in front of the dryer door waiting for the dryer to buzz alerting him that his blanket was all clean and ready. Some evenings, the blanket would get forgotten in the washing machine and put into the dryer too late. Bedtime would come and the blanket would still be wet. The tears would flow until the blanket was lovingly tucked into Sawyer's arms again. I recall on more than one occasion racing Bradley to the dryer when we heard the buzzing sound because we both wanted the satisfaction of giving Sawyer back his clean blanket and seing the happy smile on his face. He would pour out love and hugs to whomever gave him back his favorite blanket
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. During a prenatal Dr's visit when I was pregnant with Carter, Sawyer was tagging along carrying his beloved blanket. The blanket accidentally got left at the doctor's office. The office was called trying to retrieve it. Also contacted was the cleaning staff, the head office, patient information and any other person we might could speak with. The blanket was never recovered. Two very sad days followed until Nana created an exact replica of the blanket. You have never witnessed such a joyful toddler! For weeks after that, the blanket could not be pryed from his hands. I even carried him to a monogram shop to have his name put on it, in case he ever lost it again, it would be easier to reclaim it. The owner of the shop insisted that it would take her overnight to add his name, until she too witnessed the attachment. She promptly turned his nameless blanket to a blanket proudly displaying the name "Sawyer" on it. She couldn't bear to make him wait.
During Sawyer's baby and toddler years, his blanket became an extention of him. It was just a part of him. Preschool days were lurking during the summer Sawyer was 3. I knew that I would have to explain to Sawyer that his blanket couldn't go with him to preschool. I envisioned this conversation being infinitely more difficult for Sawyer than it was for Tucker. At first, the rule was a little more lax than with Tucker. The blanket just couldn't go to preschool. It was still allowed to travel in the car, go to Nana's, and be played anywhere else he liked. The transition wasn't too bad. He too was convinced by the idea that he might have to share it if he carried to to preschool.
As time passed by, the blanket began to be left in the bed more often than not. It was always there when he got ready to go to sleep, but by the time he started big school, he no longer played with it or needed it outside of night time. He spent the night with his friends a couple of times, and he still packed up his little blanket into his suitcase so that he could get it out at bedtime, until this last time. I wish I had known when I tucked him in the bed that night that it would be the last night he spent snuggled up with his blanket. I would have soaked it all in. I would have watched him sleep and watched his fingers wrap around the fringe for the last time. I would have grasped onto the last moment of his babyhood. Instead, the night passed like any other. I gave him a goodnight kiss and tucked in his covers with his little blanket by his side. The next morning the two of us worked together to pack his suitcase to go to his friends house. He excitedly chose his pajamas and clothes and tucked them into their place in the suitcase. I grabbed his blanket and pitched it in on top of his other things, as I have done other times before. He nonchalantly picked his blanket up and said, as if it were no bid deal, "I don't need this anymore. I'm gonna put it in that special box." And off he went, leaving me standing with my heart in my throat and tears in my eyes, stading in a wake of emotions. It has been a week since the blanket was tucked into the box. I half hoped he would go get it back out later. I still can't believe he packed up his blankie. I guess at this point, I need his security blanket more than he did. 
The chest is now closed with the pillow and blanket inside. One day Carter too will tuck his blanket inside and not only will the chest be closed, but another phase in their life will too be closed.
Since football is Tucker's new sport, he wanted a cake with a football on it with #34. Inside was red velvet, his favorite! Tucker's party this year was a "coed" one. He invited 6 of his guy friends and 5 of his gal friends. They had a ton of fun. We started the night with cake and gifts and singing "Happy Birthday." He got lots of cards with money, an UnderArmor shirt, and the ever popular talking toilet paper dispenser. The things 5th graders come up with to buy! After cake we divided into teams, girls vs. boys, and had a sports scavenger hunts. The kids had to take pictures of themselves doing various things. On the list were: a pyramid on the football field, the group on first base of the baseball field, the group doing the batter's stance in the bread aisle in We-Tote-Em, the groupd doing a 3 point stance on aisle 3 at Lucky's, pictures of former and present baseball, basketball, football, softball players and coaches, a picture in the dugout, a picture with Mr. Arnold and Mrs. Austin, a photo on the playground slide in reverse alphabetical order, and several others. The kids (and parents) had a blast getting those items. In the end, it was a tie between the girls and boys, 23 to 23. The winners (which was everyone) got silly string to shoot. The girls left at about 10:00pm and the boys began a Nerf gun war. Bradley and I were in the middle of the war and I was probably shot more than anyone else. My knees were actuually sore the next day from falling so many times. I guess I was going for a realistic Nerf death. We had a great time with all the kids at our house and went to bed exhausted, but blessed that our kids have such great friends.
A silly string battle was a blast!
Photo on the slide in reverse alphabetical order, from the scavenger hunt.
A pyramid on the football field from the scavenger hunt.
The whole gang at Tucker's party
Playing a game with the water blasters where you earn points for putting out fires.
Carter and his buddies out by the pool. (Maggie, Caden, Jaxon, and Carter)
As if Carter turning 5 wasn't enough for my emotions to handle, Sawyer lost his first tooth on his birthday,too!
This sweet picture of Carter was taken on his 5th birthday.
I had to get some extra love from Carter on his birthday!
Nerf war! It got wild at our house for a little while!
Sawyer with his winning tickets at Chuck-E-Cheese and me with my adorable 7 year old. 7 is going to be a great age. I can tell.
