One thing you must understand about our family is we take special blankets VERY seriously. My boys each have them and in case of fire one of us grabs the kids WITH their blankets and the other grabs the laptops.
Ryan first fell in love with his blanket around 6 months. I purchased a back up, and then a 3rd back up a few months later. He started calling it tag, which turned into taggy. Now, 3.5 years later taggy is a HE and his best friend next to Grandma. He has his "favorite" which he labeled as number 1 taggy and then the others are number 2 and 3, yes he knows the difference and will inspect them all before cuddling up.
The most important part of the blanket is the tag or label, without it there would be no point. He used to suck on it, now he just obsessively rubs it in between his fingers, on his feet, on his stomach, and in his ear. He also does this weird tongue sucking thing that mimics a nursing suck. He's done it as long as I can remember and will start it every time he sees his blanket, like an instinct. He can't sleep without it, he insists on dragging it all over the house and we finally said it can't come in the car with us anymore unless we will be gone for a LONG time. Twice, the tag has actually fallen off and you would have thought someone actually died in front of him. I have sewn them back on and went over it a few more times for good measure.
When Ryan was about a year old I bought another one KIND of like his tag, thinking he would take it as an acceptable replacement. Wow was I wrong. I held onto it, I actually used the fuzzy brown side for newborn photos way back in the day. When West was born I pulled it out of a baby box and had it near by but didn't really use it as he was swaddled or slept in our bed (and you aren't supposed to use blankets, right) When he was a little older I just like cuddling with it and him so it made more appearances I actually called it "Weston's taggy" one day and hubs looked at me like I was crazy. I think his words were "not THAT again" Eventually he became pretty fond of the blanket. When he was 7 months old I found him in his crib, with the taggy part, rubbing it on his feet just like Ryan does. And that was that.
Weston is obsessed with his blanket just as much as Ryan is his, he loops his fingers in the fold of the tag and rubs it on his face when he's tired. He gets really grumpy if I leave it in his bed after nap and must have it whenever he's sad. He is well aware that Ryan and him both have their own special blanket and he will always give Ryan's to him if he finds it. It's like they understand the sacredness of "the taggy" and it is respected in our house. You don't have to share it with anyone, don't you dare take your brothers away from him, and if your brother is sad find his taggy for him.
Do your kids have a special blanket, lovey, or animal they just have to have?
