I think my daughter, at age 9, is getting all grown up. She told me recently, “Mummy, I don’t play ‘school’ anymore. I’m too old.”
But then we have an exchange like this, about a favourite stuffed animal she received when she was 4 months old:
“Mummy, I don’t want Moomoo to die,” she said, her eyes bright with tears.
“She’s a stuffed animal,” I said. “She can’t die.”
“You know what I mean. I want to have her forever.” She squeezed Moomoo close, which causes a little shower of round stuffing pellets to fall out.
“Don’t worry, that won’t happen,” I told her.
“But what if it does? She’s losing all her stuffing.”
“We’ll get more stuffing.”
“But she it keeps coming out of this hole. I don’t ever want her to die.”
What are you going to do as a parent when this kind of thing happens? You know what you do: You endeavor to make sure Moomoo never does die.
Then surgery begins: I make an inch-long incision through which beads immediately pour out. My daughter and I create a makeshift funnel, through which we try to scoop in microbeads, using my favourite I ♥ New York. The sofa and rug become a Milky Way of tiny white dots. But gradually Moomoo fills out, gets fatter. My daughter debates how re-stuffed she wants her to be. Eventually we achieve maximum squeezability, the perfect cuddle ratio.
I close the hole with two rows of stitches, strong enough to hold back grown-up years for a while longer.
Moomoo lives on and lives have been saved, yayyy!
We have Baby Ted who has undergone so much surgery he puts Cindy Jackson to shame. In fact he has been sewn so many times it’s becoming tougher and tougher to fix him – a new site might be the right answer.
Ha! Yes, Moomoo doesn’t yet look like a plastic surgery victim — she still has a natural look and wears her scars proudly.
You are an ace Mum.
My son N is 7, he has sensory difficulties and was extremely attached to a baby cot quilt he’d had for years. It had been washed so many times & carted about across the country that all of the inside filling was shredded and what he was essentially loving was a holey rag of cotton.
We managed to pry it off of him and I hid it in my wardrobe in case he got really upset so we could return it. He did well, transferred his affections onto another blanket and I am now in the process of making him a quilt of his very own, to his specifications. That was a fun two hours fabric shopping…
The things we do to keep our babies happy, eh? I’m glad Moomoo lives on.
Vonnie, nice idea to create a special quilt with fabric the child chooses himself. And you can easily wash a blanket!
Well done Mum! A much loved toy lives to cuddle another day! I well remember the days of repairing loved ones – I used to “borrow” suture kits from the operating theatres, and face masks from the uniform store and we would play at surgery! These days I only seem to be asked to fix favourite dresses – it’s not the same!
Mary, what a fun idea. My daughter did like being part of the project and for once we didn’t worry about making a mess of the sitting room.
You never get too old for a favourite stuffed toy – Papasaurus keeps a watchful eye over ‘Communist Ted’, his childhood best teddy which has now been passed down to Ozzy.
Well done on your brave bead operation. That’s Dr Howze now yes?
I try to keep it informal around the kids. Dr Jen is fine.
My husband has a threadbare BarBar bear from his childhood too. I wonder if men are secretly more sentimental?
You are just the best mommy ever and she will remember that forever. I know this because I had a doll – and it was really special because it breathed (this is going back some while btw). Anyway my mom also had to do some life saving operation on her too and I never forget that ever.
I’m glad you managed to get the right bits to help save Moomoo.
Pinkoddy, what a sweet story. I fondly remember those days of breathing, eating, weeing dolls. My mother steal has Mrs Beasley, a dress-up doll from my childhood used to teach buttoning and zipping. Just thinking about her makes me warm and fuzzy.
Bless you and her! Such a good example to set; the importance of taking care of things, treasuring loved things in a disposable culture, love, relationships – so much in just one small gesture. Lovely post.
Hi Jude, you make a great point — treasuring loved things and restoring them. Thanks so much for your comment.
Well done Mummy Jen, my Mum repaired my Raggety Ann doll so many times when I was a kid and she is still in the loft now. Mich x
Ronnie has many of Olivers toys from when he was a child, and his absolute favourite is the one that he has had from birth. peanut. i however have my old shoe. hmmmm go figure!
I think it is great you did this together (and will probably do again). My teddy bear was sewn up and restuff many times until my mum said there was no material left to sew him together any more (I always wore through at the same point). I remember going to Sunwin House (Co-op) where I was allowed to choose a replacement; I chose the one that looked the same, and then I used to climb the shelves in my parents walk in wardrobe to have secret cuddles with the original.
I still have the original and replacement and they sit on a shelf in my bedroom. My daughter asked to take one of them to school for Children in Need, because they weren’t precious!