Rachel's 7 Year Portraits

(Lucy has buried Linus' blanket.)
Charlie Brown: Why don't you don't let me try to find some sort of substitute for your blanket? Maybe I could get you a dishtowel or something.
Linus: Would you give a starving dog a rubber bone?

I think the quote above from a Peanuts cartoon pretty much sums up Rachel's feelings on the matter where the blue blanket is concerned. She has had "the Blue" since she was a newborn. To this day, she still sleeps with it. And, if she is lying on the sofa watching T.V., she will many times be snuggled up with "the Blue" (as she calls it).

"The Blue" is looking a bit more ragged with each passing year but she loves it as much today as when she was an infant. I guess some people would say she's old enough to get along without a comfort object. But, I just don't see the harm in a child at the age of seven snuggling up with her blanket. It's not like she's sucking her thumb or a pacifier; something that could damage her bite or teeth. And, it's also not like she carries it everywhere she goes although I have to agree with Anna, images of Linus are conjured up in my mind from time to time when I see her with her blue blanket. I don't know how many more years she will hold onto "the blue" as her comfort object but I wanted a photo to keep that would remind us of her and her blanket as it is one of the last connections to her early childhood that still remains. I think The Picture People captured what I was looking for quite nicely (shown above). They even added the text, "I'll never be too old for my blanket..." to the portrait.

I think they also did a great job with her photos below. I still find it hard to believe that this child that almost spans the length of our sofa when she is laying down was such a tiny little munchkin not so very long ago.

And, her appetite kicked in today! I don't think she stopped eating for the better part of the afternoon. It must be a growth spurt. I just bought her new tennis shoes a couple of months ago and she is already complaining that those shoes are getting too small. I keep jokingly telling her that, "I'm going to stop feeding her so she'll stop growing!" It is true what everyone says, they do grow up too fast it seems.