Four has lost her teddy.
Extreme heartbreak.
All of us are devastated. She took it to school – I dropped her off – she had it afterwards – Husband picked her up. He took the children to a favourite restaurant – she had it there. They came straight home. Teddy is not at home. Or in the garden. Or in the car.
We phoned the restaurant twice. It is not there.
What to do?
I do actually have a backup bear who is, as I write, in the dryer after a hot white boiling wash, trying to get matted and beaten up looking like his predecessor. I shall go and check his progress in a minute but I don’t hold out much hope. Teddy (original) was so severely beaten and matted that it is going to be hard to replicate.
I would feel angry with Husband, under whose watch Teddy went AWOL. but the man clearly feels so awful and wretched, that there is little point in doing anything to make him feel worse. It certainly won’t bring Teddy back.
When I was a little girl I left my bear, Huckle, in a swing at Blaker’s Park. When I remembered him I ran back to fetch him but he was gone!
Undone.
Several weeks later I was walking home with another little girl and her mother, when the mum said to me:
“Oh, we’ve got your teddy!”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
Someone had found him at the park, thought he belonged to my friend, brought him to school and she had recognised him. She told her mother who, in turn, had told me that afternoon.
I was ecstatic, relieved, overjoyed etc.etc.
It did take quite a long time for him to smell like himself again, but that was just a piffling detail. The point was that he came home.
I am praying for a similar outcome for Four. It seems so cruelly unfair to be happening so close to her birthday.
And if the real Teddy doesn’t come home, I’m holding out for her not noticing/willing herself to believe in Teddy two.
{ 10 comments }
Something like this happened to us. I now write my mobile phone number on the labels of any precious cuddly friends before they leave the house.
My dd1 lost her TY Beanie Guinea Pig in November. Four months later she was still asking about it. I tried everywhere to get another one, even searched on the internet. It was then I then discovered it was a “rare & discontinued” beanie- although we bought the original at a service station whilst on a long car journey.
I finally managed to get a replacement Guinea on Ebay and paid a ridiclous amount to have it shipped over from The States! When dd1 opened the package we told her he had been on holiday! She was so happy, although a little suspiscious.
I really hope that Four finds her teddy.
We have two books with stories of lost cuddly friends, “Dogger” by Shirley Hughes and “Tatty Ratty” by Helen Cooper. Both may help you out if you have to use fake teddy2.
Good luck x
Nightmare! Small one lost beloved Tigger on a walk in London, he fell out of the pram. I remember the utter horror when I realised he was gone and the sprint back along our route. Luckily a kind soul had positioned him on a post box, but the event was sufficiently awful that we made a rule that Tigger was never to leave the safety of home or the car again. I know that this isn’t a particularly helpful suggestion at this moment in time, but if by some stroke of luck teddy returns (or backup bear is accepted) I would heartily recommend this rule to avoid future heartbreak. Fingers crossed Teddy finds his way home. x
(Dogger is a fantastic story but does involve being reunited with original toy)
Late developer’s last blog post..Farewell Pit of Gloom. You won’t be missed.
I know exactly how this feels. My daughter lost her’s when she was 3. It was a mystery as to where it went. We still don’t know. Thankfully I found her another brown teddy, it was the same colour and size but she knew it wasn’t the same one, but she still grew to love him. Now they can’t be separated.
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She must be really upset. You could put up posters from the restaurant to your home? She may have dropped it on the street.
Could you fool her with Teddy No 2 – saying he had had a make-over or something?
Hope she’s not too upset and I hope Teddy turns up – you never know…
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WE FOUND TEDDY! Sweet relief. After putting up notices all over the neighbourhood, placing ads on Craigslist and local parenting sites, Facebook etc. and searching the route several times, the damn bear turned up cleverly hidden underneath the step stool that the children use to get to the bathroom basin. I can only think that Four put it there to hide it from One and then forgot. D’oh!
At least there is a happy ending. And she (Teddy) is NEVER leaving the house again.
Oh I’m so glad Teddy has been found!!! What a relief for you (and 4 – soon to be 5). It is not, however, going to stop me from leaving my cuddly toy story…
When we realised that Renée had taken a shine to a particular cuddly dog called ‘Woof Woof’ we quickly went out and bought her an exact replica (just like your back-up Teddy). Not wanting one to become more beaten than the other we swapped them around every now and then. Unfortunately I was a little careless at the swapping stage one day and Renée saw Woof Woof number two. Instead of being confused and annoyed she was overjoyed and took to both of them. Now she needs both Woof Woofs to go to sleep and a week or so ago she woke up in the middle of the night distraught that she couldn’t find Wooof Woof 2. I then spent an hour trying to locate him…which I did…and then she was able to go back to sleep again.
Stupid stupid for me to have allowed this silly situation, but there you go…
PS – Can we still call 4 ‘4’ even though she’s going to be 5?? It kind of suits her!!
Maternal Tales’s last blog post..It’s my Birthday and I’ll cry if I want to
We had a missing panda incident recently (though Rosemary isn’t as attached to panda, as it sounds like Four is to teddy). Searched high and low. Called my mum to see if she had taken him home with her. Called my aunt to see if he had somehow jumped into cousin’s changing bag. Searched high and low some more. In the end gave up and told Rosemary that panda clearly didn’t want to go on holiday and he’d hopefully be back after she came home. More than a week later he appeared while Chris was looking after her. When I came down Rosemary was carrying him and I was so excited, I was jumping up and down: ‘Oooooh! You found panda! Where was he?’ and Chris nonchalantly described his position jammed under the TV table. Why didn’t he call me with this momentous new?!
Anyway, so glad you found teddy.
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Hiya, have given you a little award over at my blog; sorry if you’ve already got it but love your work!!! Off for my little tipple now (white wine yum yum!)
PS glad you found Teddy; S#1 would be devastated if we lost MeMe (aka the chewed blanket!)
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Oh, how lucky you are to have found Teddy again. My little one (6 at the time) lost his most beloved heirloom Hunni (Danish wordplay a bit like Doggy) at a hotel room (under blanket) in Las Vegas, where we were staying en route to LA – Central America. The hotel staff were SO unhelpful and un-understanding of our predicament. Little boy cried for days and days and days and for even longer he cried every bedtime when he used to cuddle Hunni (little cheap puppy-like teddy bought years back for his now grown-up big brother).
Now – he’s 8 in a few weeks – he still has a picture of Hunni on his shelf and will sometimes take it down and cuddle it at bedtime. He’s got a new favourite now, bought alone in lovely teddy-shop in Sydney with own money a few months after the loss of Hunni. I’m VERY careful of Spotty – a little cheetah kitten like creature. Can’t imagine the devastation if this one goes AWOL as well!
Found your blog through Mrs. Trefusis on Twitter. It is now duly added to my “women” RSS feed 😀
A happy ending! I love a happy ending.
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