Our favourite childhood toys

A Mummy Too has shown us Stevie, her favourite childhood toy. And now she wants to know what ours are. Mummy knows exactly which toy her favourite is. I can’t think why she chose it, because her Wendy is a mangy old dirty-yellow teddy with a saggy bottom. Luckily it lives in the loft, and she has no hope of finding it any time soon, so you will not get to see it today.

The story goes that when Mummy was around the age of 9, her older brother’s girlfriend slept over, and was made to share Mummy’s room. When they went to bed the 2 girls gossipped a little and the girlfriend showed willing:

• J: Can I borrow your teddy, I’m not used to sleeping alone? (!!)
• Mummy: Yes, (very proud) you can have Wendy, she’s my favourite.
• J: What, it’s a girl teddy? *throws Wendy out of bed*
• Mummy: Well, Wendy Boston is my best friend
• J: Why is she called Wendy Boston
• Mummy: Oh, it’s really cool actually. She used to have a label on her leg that said Wendy Boston, only it’s worn away now!
• J: *fits of giggles*
• Mummy: What’s so funny?
• J: I’m just thinking of all the children with toys they’ve called Fisher Price!

Yes Auntie J (for she did marry Mummy’s brother in the end and sleep in the same bed), Mummy remembers that incident very well. Although she will never give you a hard time about it, because she also remembers how she scared the s*** out of you by leaving a plastic snake in the kitchen sink and insisting you do the washing up!

Anyway, this is my blog, and to a large extent these days, my brother’s. So here are our favourite toys:

First up, Bedtime Bear and Bunny. When I was about 10 days old, Bunny arrived in the post from Mummy’s friend Karen. He was destined to become my comforter until my godmother sent Bedtime Bear, who Mummy decided was a much more likely candidate. Well that did it: Bunny became my favourite (I never want to make life easy for Mummy).

Bunny went everywhere, and caused many a panic when lost. He was once irretrievably lost on holiday in Guernsey, and Mummy had to make a mad dash once home to purchase another. He had apparently been on holiday at one of those all-inclusive places where the food is free and delicious; he had eaten a lot, which explained his new plump, plush look.

Bunny was lost in Mallorca when I was almost 2. The panic was immense. The supermarket I dropped him in was scoured, and Mummy irritated the heck out of the cashier with her best Spanish attempt at “my baby has lost her bunny – this is a matter of dire urgency!” Luckily, on the next tour of the aisles, Bunny was discovered, sitting in amongst the olives, noshing as usual.

On our return, a back-up Bunny was purchased, just in case. He never exited his paper bag, because I instantaneously defected to Bedtime Bear, who has been my favourite ever since. Though his name now, and forever more, will be Bebear, because that’s all I could manage to say at the time. Mummy swiftly discovered his origins at Hamley’s and phoned for a potential replacement. “We do have them,” the nice lady said. “But the shipping is £6, and the bear itself is only £6, so you might not want it.” Mummy shot back “That’s ok, because I want 4!”

All 4 of those Bebears have served their purpose; it’s useful to have  back-up in case of  temporary loss or vomit. And each one has his own mark: ink-hat Bebear, cut-hat Bebear, and stitched-hat Bebear all live somewhere in Mummy’s private stash, and pop out to visit my bed when required. But Bunny still comes with, when we’re sleeping away from home.

Such was the importance of Bebear to me that, when the Bug was in Mummy’s tummy I decided he needed a comforter too. Daddy gave me the money, and I chose DouDou, the red and yellow dude (yeah ok, I know there’s pink in there too!). The Bug was a good sleeper, and always had DouDou in his cot. I was proud.

One day Mummy ordered some clothes from Vertbaudet, and the freebie was another DouDou, the brown guy with the baby teddy in a pouch. He went in the cot too, and became Bedtime Bear. Then one night Mummy washed the Bug’s Bebear; would the Bug sleep? Na’ah! Mummy got straight on Ebay searching for another one; she missed out on 1 because she wasn’t willing to pay £30! When the next one became available she bid £20 – that’s how important this was. Mummy currently has 2 spare Bebears for the Bug.

She says no amount of money could cover the benefit we have had from these little fellas. When my first clumsy steps resulted in a bump to the forehead, the name I called was Bunny’s. When Kate McCann spoke of Madeleine in the first days after her daughter’s abduction, she mentioned how distressed she was that Madeleine did not have CuddleCat with her. Such is the importance of a child’s favourite toy.

What’s your favourite childhood toy?