Washing Unket

Trauma of all traumas for Maggie today: We had to wash her beloved "uuket" (aka blanket). I usually try to wash it at night, but lately she has been sleeping with the blanket snaked around her body and I haven't had a chance. This morning, before we left for the park, I noticed a peculiar smell eminating from Maggie's direction. I knew it wasn't her diaper, and since she is rarely without unket...I was immediately suspicious she had again used unket to wipe up some milk that was beginning to sour. I had no choice. La Nina and I would have to suffer the wrath of Maggie for cleanliness sake.

I started a load of kids clothes in the washer, grabbed surrogate blanket and tracked Maggie and unket down in the family room playing blocks. I casually picked up unket, dropped the replacement blanket and made a break for the laundry room. In my dust, there was an eruption of wailing that could wake the dead. Maggie was hot on my tail by the time I reached the laundry room and saw me throw unket into the washer. I tried lifting her up to show her the washer. I tried explaining unket was just taking a bath. I tried to comfort her, La Nina even offered up her blanket. The wailing just grew louder. She stood sobbing pathetically, "unket, unket, ketttttttt" and pointing at the mouth of the beast that had just eaten her beloved friend. In frustration, Maggie eventually collapsed on the floor in a puddle of tears. (Expecting such drama--I actually snapped pictures of the whole scene--we will post them later).

Knowing my daughter as I do, I know sugar can solve most any problem with Maggie, so I offered her a cookie. True to form, when she heard the word "cookie" she picked up La Nina's blanket, wiped her eyes, shot me a disgusted look and stalked off to the kitchen for her consolation cookie. After eating her wheat-free cookie in one bite, she returned to the laundry room and held vigil over the washer until we left for the park. After I put my dejected todder in the car, I hurriedly moved the now laundered clothes into the drier, so unket would be clean by the time we returned home.

As it happened, Maggie had a great time at the park and only uttered one very pathetic, "unket" as I loaded her in the van to come home. She was exhausted and managed to fall asleep even without her blankie. When we got home, I put her in her crib, retrieved a clean, fresh smelling unket from the drier and placed it gently next to her. Without opening her eyes, her chubby little fist gripped the familiar blanket to her chest and she rolled over to cuddle it in her sleep.