His entourage

It seems as though most kids have a security item of one kind or another, be it blankies, binkies, or a stuffed animal. I know I had one of those soft blankets with the satin edging as a kid and I adored that thing. As a baby, Asher didn't get attached to anything in particular, which was both good and bad. Good because I didn't have to search the house for a needle in a haystack before bed every night, bad because there was not a special trick I could use to calm him down.
Throughout the past year, however, he has slowly been accumulating several such items. First, there is the "white pillow." This is an all satin, white, baby-ish mini pillow with his name embroidered on it. We had it in his crib, then he insisted on sleeping on it when we moved him to the toddler bed. His fingers have always found their way to an open seam, which he sticks his fingers into. Next, there's "puppy." He has been a favorite friend for a while now too. He's a bean-bag type of stuffed animal; also on the small side. There was a time when I was cutting out paper dog bones for him so that Dion (our real dog) could have his bones back. Lastly, there is "elephant" (he just hasn't gotten too creative with names yet). He is the most recent addition and was acquired during a recent trip to the Hogle Zoo. Collectively, these three are referred to as "the buddies."
The buddies have become very important. Every morning when he pads into my room, they are with him...all of them. If they aren't with him, he immediately goes right back, returning with his arms full. Sometimes he will leave them with me for a short time while he goes and does something else...I get to babysit. He talks to them. When Puppy bites him, we have to put him in "time out." Puppy played CandyLand with us recently, and he had to move his own piece. He tried to get me to let White Pillow play a game of Memory, and I had to draw the line. W.P. doesn't even have an arm, how was that going to work?
The real problems come at bedtime. Inevitably, one of the three are always MIA. Asher lays in his bed chanting,"I want my Puppy" or whatever buddy happens to have gone missing. Once found, ah, silence and peace. The worst is how somehow in the middle of the night, he'll wake up missing one of them. I'm not sure if he somehow takes inventory in his sleep, but he always knows if one has left the nest. If one's missing, they might as well all be missing.
So, Asher and his Buddies are a common sight these days, and it totally cracks us up. What a funny phase. And it's probably a good thing for him to have his comfort items...all three of them.