A flashback moment

Let me set the scene for you......my micropreemie (700 grams), now age 4 and feisty, was in his carseat eating fast-food "hash rounds" for breakfast. Healthy, huh? ;) I was in the front seat, but turned around to look at him and talk to him......yes, the car was parked, LOL! In his other hand, he's clutching the latest in a string of stuffed animals he's become attached to......a gray cat Beanie Baby with a red ribbon on its neck.

I gave this to him last night, mainly because he's lost/misplaced most of the other "snuggly friends" as he calls them. So I pulled this one down from a shelf in his room, and told him about it: This is the very first stuffed animal you ever had! You had this with you when you were a "baby in the hospital" which is what I call the NICU time when talking to them. He instantly loved it, snuggled up and went to sleep. This morning, he asked to take it to school to use for naptime, so I agreed.

Anyway, fast forward past the car trouble and other drama of our morning......to the parking lot of the fast food place. He's holding "my kitty" and saying that he loves it, etc, and then something caught my eye.......on the kitty's tail are two small pieces of white adhesive medical tape. Well, it used to be white, anyway. You know, the kind that they use to make sure IVs or bandages stay attached.

When the Beanie Baby was given to him, it was the same size he was! We took it with us to our hotel room at night to sleep with it, as the nurses instructed. That way, it would get our scent onto it, and then it could be inside the isolette with him....for comfort, reassurance, etc even when we couldn't actually be there. Once he came home, I basically put the Beanie away so that it could stay "safe" since it was an extra-special one to us. It hasn't really been played with at all......and now, I'm shocked right back to 2004 when I see those pieces of tape on there. I reached out to pull them off, and then thought "no, those pieces represent something, and I'm gonna let them stay on".

Funny, though, how something as tiny as that can transport you through time, and bring back memories that are so fresh it's as if they just happened. Oh, and we're going to the NICU reunion this Saturday too, so that's another chance to bring it all back......but also a chance to show off my big boys and how wonderfully they're doing today. :)