Stephie Stories: Cookie

I am sure most of us know of Linus and his much loved blankie, from the Peanut cartoons.

Alexa and Zachary were never attached to any one specific item. Well, I guess Alexa did have just one type of pacifier she would use, but she would use any that were that type. So, I kind of wondered if the Linus attachment was just kind of a cartoon thing. Then we had CJ.

Right from the first we found he was attaching to specific items. But again, it was kind of like Alexa, he HAD to have one of the flannel receiving blankets with a crocheted edge. We had a ton of these. I had made probably 6 for Alexa and Zachary each and at least that many for CJ. Plus my grandma made us several. They are much loved blankets at our house even now. But CJ wouldn't go to sleep or calm down when upset unless he had one.

When CJ was four our dear friend Rima gave him a Glo-e dog for his birthday. Have you seen these. They are adorable little critters that are pure white but when you press their paws they glow. They come in all sizes and several different animals.

Rima had given a Glo-e bear to Isabel when she was born and CJ loved it so he received the dog for his birthday a few months later. CJ gave him the moniker "Cookie" right away. We figured the name would get changed a million times, as was CJ's habit with his other stuffed animals. But Cookie stuck and was never changed.

Now, as you might imagine a pure white animal full of electronics is probably not the best option for a 4 year old, very active little boy. Because it was white it got dirty very easily and because of the electronics I couldn't just through it in the wash. Cookie became CJ's Linus blanket. Cookie is so very, very loved.

Cookie has taught us all about loving someone, regardless of how they look, his stuffing is all flat, he can't really sit up with our help now, even his smile is gone. Cookie has taught us all about comforting those who need comfort. Cookie has even managed to teach us all about the great faith of a child.

Cookie disappeared once. We looked everywhere we could think to look. For three days we searched for Cookie. For three nights CJ cried himself to sleep. On the fourth night I let CJ sleep downstairs in the living room next to my bedroom. As I was tucking him in he said, "Mommy, Heavenly Father knows where Cookie is. We just need to pray that we can find him." So we knelt down on the floor next to the couch. CJ offered a heart felt prayer begging for help in finding his best friend. As I moved to stand up I turned my head in such a way that I spotted this dingy little dog stuffed up under the end table. I'm still not sure how Cookie ended up there but I would never have seen him if I hadn't been on my knees in prayer.

Rima tried once to buy a replacement Glo-e dog. That didn't work, that one became Snow Buddy. He is loved and hangs around a lot but could never replace Cookie.