A year and a half ago for Christmas one of my coworkers gave my son, Jonah, a teddy bear. She is a sweet older lady who doesn't have a lot of money and I was touched by the gesture.The teddy that she gave to Jonah was unique in many ways. When you think of a teddy bear, you probably think of something cute, cuddly and brown. This teddy is powder blue with long arms and legs and a little bow sewn below his chin. I had no idea when she gave us "Teddy" that he would become my son's best friend.
Appearances don't matter to little kids as much as they do to adults. I didn't think that Teddy was anything special, but Jonah disagrees. He absolutely loves Teddy and would not even think of going to sleep without him! For some reason Jonah finds comfort in holding Teddy close and feeling his face as he drifts off to sleep.
Teddy has been through a lot. He has traveled with us to 5 different states in the past year and a half. He has been thoroughly squeezed, petted with grubby fingers, dragged around, vomited on, and washed many, many times. His stuffing has compacted and he can no longer hold his head up. Somewhere along the way he lost that little blue bow. He looks much skinnier and worn than he did a year ago, but there is a lot of love in that little blue bear.
I foolishly tried to replace Teddy with a bear that I thought looked more "acceptable" when Jonah's brother Eli was born. We had Eli "give" Jonah an adorable brown teddy bear as a gift when Jonah came to the hospital. But nothing could replace Teddy.Now instead of one bear, Jonah sleeps with Teddy and Brown Bear... but there is no question as to which bear Jonah loves most. It's definitely Teddy.
So cute. My son has a teddy like that too. He's brown, but he's kind of ragged. He loves that thing though. Goes everywhere with it. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen my son was little, he had this weird fascination with the Peter Pan movie case. He took it everywhere with him and even talked with him. The looks I got! And you have no idea how many teddies I tried to push on him.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, he outgrew that. Peter Pan didn't go to college with him this past fall.
What a lovely post. I came over from Deb's btw.
ReplyDeleteMy son had a rabbit he was given at birth and slept with for years and years. It is flat now, but still precious.
this is very sweet. i love how the teddy is as big as jonah in the picture! kids don't seem to focus on looks as much as adults do, do they?
ReplyDeletegreat first post. you and i seem to have jumped on board around the same time.
thanks for playing, honey!
So sweet! What a lovely first post! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's truly amazing what children chose to love.