Saliva

I hate my daughter's lovey. I didn't hate it when we first gave it to her. It's a little Winnie The Pooh head and upper body with a blanket for the bottom half. It used to be soft and smooth and cuddly. Zoe enjoys it as if she were a dog. She chews on it. Apparently that's how it comforts her. She chews on the ears and sucks on them. She chomps on the nose like a piece of gum. She tugs and gnaws on it with her teeth so hard, I'm surprised it hasn't ripped off. She slobbers all over it so that it stays wet for hours. When it eventually dries, it gets hard and crusty, and it still stinks. It smells like bad breath. Did I mention that my daughter has bad breath. I don't mind it (she takes after me), but her mom does. To clean the lovey we have to rub liquid detergent into the head before dropping it into the laundry. Of course we bought a spare lovey, and we'll probably get several more. I can't truly hate the lovey, because it really does comfort her. She asks for it a lot. I guess the smell of her own saliva is as calming to her as it is gross to us. It doesn't even look cute any more. The ears are tugged and frayed and splayed, and the snout is all twisted and bitten up. It looks like a tiny gnarled beast of a varmint - it looks like it was chewed on and spit out by a bigger animal. The real Winnie the Pooh would have nightmares if he saw it. Sometimes she wants us to kiss it and she presses it to our face and lips. This immediately causes us to gag - especially if it's soaked with fresh slobber...mmm...lovey.