The children and their comfort objects

Over the summer I had to sort out all my blog posts thanks to Photobucket changing their subscription terms, and while it was a massive pain it did give me the opportunity to go back over old posts, reminding me of old memories, which is the reason that I started writing this blog in the first place.

One of the posts that I uncovered was this one about Harry and his Giraffe. Harry's Giraffe was bought by my brother when he was born. He's made by Gund, and he's really just a square of soft fabric with a giraffe head, feet and a tail. When Harry was about two we realised that he was becoming very attached, and anxious to avoid any missing Giraffe trauma we managed to track down a duplicate. It's very useful as I can wash them regularly, and even though Harry knows there are two he'll accept either.

So before Mia was born we chose a similar pink teddy comforter from Tesco, again buying two. Unfortunately she can tell the difference, and will only accept one of them! Fortunately she's not so completely attached to Teddy that she can't sleep without him, and she's easily placated with one of her other numerous cuddly toys.

Even though Harry is now coming up to 9, he's still very attached to his Giraffe. He doesn't just have him to sleep with, he'll carry him about the house with him and involves him in his games. Both children still play a lot of imaginative games together, and they love getting food from the toy kitchen and making tea for their teddies. Sometimes when they go to school in the morning he'll ask me to look after Giraffe, and he's delighted if he comes back to find Giraffe doing something like reading a book, or sat in front of a plate of cake.

Sometimes if I think that they've had a long day at school, or they are just very tired, I'll take Giraffe and Teddy along in the car so that they can cuddle them on the way home. That's the only time that I'll allow them to leave the house though - they don't come out otherwise!

A few years back we bought a large photo frame, with lots of slots for multiple photographs. Ram and I spent some time going through all our photos, choosing our favourites, printing them and arranging them in the frame. We unveiled our handiwork to the children, expecting them to be thrilled to see themselves up on the wall. They rewarded us with outrage and upset because none of the pictures showed Giraffe or Teddy - they are part of the family too!

I'm fully aware that as Harry gets older I don't want him to be embarrassed by Giraffe. If he has friends coming around I try to make sure that Giraffe is safely tucked up in bed, although it doesn't seem to bother him yet if they see him. I told him that when he goes on a school residential, which isn't for a few years yet, he can take Giraffe with him but he seemed a bit unsure. I'm sure that he won't be the only one to take a teddy though - I always took my teddy with me whenever I went away, even alloting him precious suitcase space when I was in Germany for a year!

Do your children have a favourite cuddly toy?