Daddy Brad and Daddy Clay share their stories about baby blankets this week, revealing the importance and necessity of these and other "transitional objects" to kids come bedtime. This episode offers tips to finding inexpensive and easily replaceable blankets while also offering some genuine insight into why kids need and love there affectionately named "binky","bwanky", "blanky" and of course "boo-boo". The dads break down the comfort and soothing sleep aids. DadLabs Ep 394 brought to you by BabyBjorn.

Daddy Clay: Hey welcome back to the lounge – I’m Daddy Clay.

Daddy Brad: And I’m Daddy Brad.

Daddy Clay: This week’s lounge is brought to you by Baby Bjorn – the new babysitter balance – very cool! You can eat, rest, sleep, and play all in one great spot – babysitter balance.

Daddy Brad: You can’t eat, sleep, rest and play – your baby can.

Daddy Clay: Actually you can – you’ve got the big one.

Daddy Brad: You can? Oh yeah!

Daddy Clay: Remember the one’s we sat on in New York? But since we’re talking about rest, play sleep – we’re going to do the whole week on sleep right? It has to be talking about kids and sleep, and it has to be about booze!

Daddy Brad: Dude you can’t give booze to kids to make them go to sleep – that is illegal.

Daddy Clay: No, no, no you misunderstand. Booze – the booze!

Daddy Brad: I know you like to drink a lot but that is illegal with your kids!

Daddy Clay: No, no, no the booze - Wilson my oldest son’s booze.

Daddy Brad: Dude we said you cant give him booze!

Daddy Clay: Well we started giving him the booze when he was born! I mean the booze have been with us for 10 years.

Daddy Brad: Call CPS quick!

Daddy Clay: The booze – you’re misunderstanding. You think I’m saying booze – alcohol.

Daddy Brad: Right! Booze – liquor, alcohol.

Daddy Clay: That’s what he calls the blankets the he sleeps with – have always been, well originally it was just the boo and then we needed more than one and so they were the boo’s.

Daddy Brad: Did he wear out the first boo?

Daddy Clay: No it’s actually…

Daddy Brad: You lost it?
Daddy Clay: No, no. We took it… we were big fans of having something to help the kids go to sleep, and so, my oldest Bubba – he really bonded with his boo, and we had to take it everywhere. I remember on a plane flight from Austin to Boston – 4-hour plane flight, and Bubba’s all snuggled up in his boo and very comfortable, but all of a sudden he wakes up and says that his tummy was hurting, and then he proceeds to power-vomit everywhere! – A steady sort of conical bolt of vomit, and mostly he’s vomiting into his blanket and we used the blanket to catch the vomit.

The flight attendant’s are at the back of the plane just like throwing coffee packets at us to kill the smell. And they were just landing all around us, and the kid is throwing up everywhere. But fortunately he’s thrown up all in the blanket so we just rolled that up and we put it in a plastic bag – but now, the kid is totally traumatized, and the one thing that will calm him down, is now soaked in vomit and in a plastic bag!

Daddy Brad: What did you do?

Daddy Clay: You just freaked out for another 2 _ hours.

Daddy Brad: So is that the reason that he had to get another boo?

Daddy Clay: That’s why we have multiple boo’s.

Daddy Brad: Oh as back-ups?

Daddy Clay: Yes

Daddy Brad: I see

Daddy Clay: We have two – you had to buy the whole kit! It was one of these blankets that came in the kit with the bumpers and the lampshade and everything else – we got lots of extra lampshades.

Daddy Brad: And he can’t go to sleep without it?

Daddy Clay: No! And then the other kids – they all have them too. My middle child Ry-Ry – hers we call that the night-night, and that is actually one of her mothers old silk nightgowns – which smells good and we don’t need anything…

Daddy Brad: You sleep naked?

Daddy Clay: No! So anyway - she has that, and my youngest Coop has what we call the binkie and those are the bean-filled pillows – you know the ones that have little pouts in it? He’s got multiple colors…

Daddy Brad: Haki-sacks that you kick?

Daddy Clay: No – the big ones. They are like stretchy fabric and they’ve got the beanie stuff inside it – he’s got to have one of those. So we have boo’s, we have the night-night and we have the binkie, and all of those have got to be with us all the time.

Daddy Brad: Do you sleep in long johns?
Daddy Clay: How about your kids? Do they have boo?

Daddy Brad: I don’t give my kids booze!

Daddy Clay: Do they have anything they sleep with that comforts them?

Daddy Brad: My daughter Ella likes a blanket and books – like big books.

Daddy Clay: Books?

Daddy Brad: Yeah – its like she’ll sleep with the books. Walker not so much – he’s on the Motel 6 plan, just give him the quilt and he’s pretty much done.

Daddy Clay: That’s impressive, but can we go back to the books for a moment? I mean really, is that comfortable? Roll over on a copy of Go Dogs Go or?

Daddy Brad: She likes it – makes her feel good.

Daddy Clay: Madeline poking in your eye?

Daddy Brad: Ella the Elephant you know that whole deal? She likes that.

Daddy Clay: It seems like that would be a bumpy thing.

Daddy Brad: Books? No they’re flat – you know the big books – she can lie on top of them.

Daddy Clay: I have to say – I’m with you though. Sometimes the kid – my youngest, wants to sleep with something that doesn’t seem very cuddly. He wanted to sleep with a Matchbox car in one hand and a rubber snake in the other.

Daddy Brad: Not cuddly.

Daddy Clay: And I was like how are you going to cuddle that son? And the other thing is – he’ll lose those in the middle of the night wake up crying.

Daddy Brad: Did you ever get into the habit of letting them go to sleep while you’re in there with them?

Daddy Clay: No! I think that’s why I’m all in favor of these comfort blankets and stuff – I mean they need to have something to help soothe themselves.

Daddy Brad: Absolutely

Daddy Clay: So I think the binkie boo is essential.

Daddy Brad: That’s a huge point because, if you ever, if you ever let the child go to sleep while you’re in there – stand there while they go to sleep, you are setting a bad precedent. Because then you’re in there the whole time with them and they cant go to sleep without you – and that, pretty much takes up all your boo’s and binkie time – you know what I’m talking about, put on your long johns and your flannels love-makey action! So have your kids – give them a blanket and let them go to sleep by themselves.

Daddy Clay: But you know, like I was pointing out though – the boo there’s a downside, because you’re going to have to take that thing with you wherever you go, and if you ever lose one – total panic. So buy something that’s a binkie that you can get multiple copies of.

Daddy Brad: Yeah not like a handmade Guatemalan – you know the only one in the world.

Daddy Clay: No and one of the smartest I ever saw? One day I was grilling at my house – had a big party there, and was making some steaks - finished handling some meat, and right next to me was a little piece of cloth – picked it up, I started wiping my hands on it, and I heard one of the mothers gasp and I realized that I had wiped my hands on their child’s security blanket – with raw steak juice.

Daddy Brad: E-coli – that’s great!

Daddy Clay: I was so apologetic, I said I’ll take this and I’ll go put this in the washing machine – I’m so sorry. She said don’t worry about it – we’ve got 30 more in the bag. She used a cloth diaper – that’s what they taught their kid to use as the binkie, that way they could have hundreds of them.

Daddy Brad: Interesting

Daddy Clay: So they keep 5 in the bag all the time and that was the security blanket. I thought that was a good idea.

Daddy Brad: A really good idea! You know what? I think its time for us to go.

Daddy Clay: Yeah probably so. Thanks to our sponsors Baby Bjorn. Make sure you check out that babysitter balance – that’s a pretty cool place for your kid to sleep. But that’s all for us this week here in the lounge.

Daddy Brad: Dude, I’d love to sleep, rest and play in that thing.

Daddy Clay: We did – I mean you looked pretty good in that one in New York.

Daddy Brad: So come on – tell me about the long johns dude! Do you sleep in long johns? How about in the summertime? – Because it’s kind of hot.

Daddy Clay: No I don’t sleep in them. This is not appropriate for here.

Daddy Brad: What do they call those flaps?

Daddy Clay: People don’t want to talk about sexy things on the Internet – they want to talk about…
Daddy Brad: You in long johns? – That’s not sexy! I mean, you’re a good-looking man and all, but you in long johns? Nooo, not so much!