Or that’s what my parents always said. You see, my big sister Louise was gifted a ‘fluffy jingle shape’ toy when born, and she loved it to bits. Literally. Happiness really was fluffy jingle shaped for her when it was lying next to her in the cot. With the birth of my first baby approaching I’ve been thinking about the significance of these early toys, how precious they are to us, even into adulthood.
I walked into the bathroom a couple of days ago to find my big butch hubby, sleeves rolled up, washing his old childhood toy ‘Pappy’ in the baby bath, getting it ready to meet the new addition to the family… It’s a very old, dog-eared, one-eyed, lump of stuffing in the shape of a leopard that to this day Greg still holds dear and looks on with real affection. I can’t mock, I also have my old ‘Hedgy’ the hedgehog tucked away in a box, and my other sister Anna still has ‘Teddy’, held together now with sheer will power rather than stitching. I’m not sure what happened to Louise’s fluffy jingle shape but I’m sure it died content. Pappy is now squeaky clean and less of a health hazard, but I think we’ll still be on the lookout for a brand new leopard friend for the new baby, so she can love it to bits from scratch…
by Helen
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