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Ducky Love



When my son was born, my husband's college friend gave him a small duck blanket, sort of like a lovey.  I used to lay it across his chest thinking that it would help to soothe him as he was a fussy baby.  My daughter sucked her thumb to calm herself, but my son never found his or took to the pacifier.


 
At about three months old, he started to hold on to it and even snuggle it a bit.  The softness of the material helped to ease his stress by rubbing it on his face, smelling the familiar odors.  He sought the ducky blanket for comfort.
 
We never went anywhere without Ducky.  I soon realized that we needed a backup. In my journeys, I ended up finding two replacements, just in case we ever lost one.  Being that we are always on the go, near and far, we ended up losing one permanently.  It was not the original Ducky; that one was spared.

Walt Disney World

By the time my son was three, he found out that there were two Duckys and took them both everywhere.  His ducks have been to several beaches along the East Coast, New England, Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Hollywood, Boca Raton, The Smoky Mountains, Montreal, and many other places.  The stress level was high every place we went, constantly checking to see if he had both.  He named them Old Ducky (the original) and New Ducky.  The difference between them was their tag, each had a different type.
 
Ducky (and his entourage, which varies from month to month), has helped us celebrate many birthdays, Christmases, first days of school, graduations, Halloween, and many more life events, specials days, and not-so-special days.  My son suffers from headaches occasionally, so Ducky is there to soothe him and relieve him of his pain.




Welcome Home Ducky!

When my son was four, we went on a day trip to a local beach with some friends.  Old Ducky got lost!  We looked all over my friend's car, in all the bags and came up empty-handed.  My son was crushed.  Three months later, my friend found Old Ducky.  What a joyful reunion that was!  Heavy restrictions were put on Old Ducky's travels as he is my son's favorite (it is all about the tag).


Duck, North Carolina
This Spring we took a vacation to Duck, North Carolina.  One fun task we had while we were there was to photograph my son with his Duckys and as many "Duck" signs we saw.  It kept us busy!  There was Duck's General Store, Duck Deli BBQ restaurant, Duck Donuts, Lucky Duck gift shop, the Duck water tower, Olde Duck Road, Duck Ridge Shores, and many more.  We did not get a picture with all of them, though.

My husband and I joke all the time that our son will be taking Ducky to college, and even down the aisle to get married. The truth is Ducky brings my son much peace and comfort, which makes me (and our whole family) happy. To take that away from him would be like removing his heart, his soul. As far as I am concerned, there will always be a place for Ducky in our home.
Ducky Entourage

by resident writer Gwen D'Amico
jerseycats@hotmail.com



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  1. AnonymousSeptember 4, 2012 at 2:21 PM

    Hi,
    My name is Sarah and I'm with Dwellable. I was looking for blog posts about the Outer Banks to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, drop me a line at Sarah(at)dwellable(dot)com.
    Hope to hear from you :)
    Sarah

    ReplyDelete

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