Over the couple weeks since her sister arrived, Julia has assembled an ever-larger collection of blankets and pillows in her bed. Matters came to a head today.
Some, of these blankets, she rediscovered after we had to shuffle the contents of her closet to accommodate the baby clothing and equipment; one, she received as a wonderful present. Every night, we had to arrange the blankets just so: some went on her, some went in her arms, some went to the end of the bed just in case. After I made my departure each evening, she often requested blanket-disaster assistance: "Daddeeeee! Get Stawbewwy Shortcake banket for Joooooolia!" Though I lately stopped meeting those requests, every night we did have to sneak into her room to unravel her knot of sweaty bedclothes.
After a particularly bad episode last night, we resolved to pack the heavy winter-weight blankets away until, you know, winter. So this morning, I duly folded up "starmoon banket" and "teddybear banket," two lovely, fleecy coverings that are much more Christmas than Labor Day. We had a little ceremony in which Julia kissed each one goodbye and waved as I put them on a high shelf in her closet.
You know where this is going: naptime. Julia was snuggled down into her smaller, cooler collection of blankets, ready to shut her eyes, when she remembered the disappeared and asked in her most saccharine voice, "Daddy, get starmoon banket?" I said, "Remember, honey? We put them away this morning. We'll get them out when winter comes." Instantly, she burst into her loudest, most unrealistic wail, which was punctuated by several surreptitious glances at me, assessing whether it looked like I was going to go get the blanket or not. After a few seconds, the wail died down and she peeped, "Winter comes after naptime." I laughed inwardly and replied, "No, honey, winter will come... [thinking madly] after Daddy goes back to work," meaning after my leave ends. Instantly: "Daddy goes back to work after naptime, then winter." She wasn't wrong, per se, just a bit off on her timescale.
She went to sleep tonight with the new, limited array of blankets.