My sister and I had Stuffed Animal Central as kids. Guess it came from being the 3rd and 4th children, as well as having some 13 aunts and uncles who found stuffed animals to be real easy gifts. We had several teddy bears who were appreciated, but not loved.
Love was reserved for Ruf-Ruf–, a floppy-eared, sad-eyed, brown beagle. Showing our early maturity and intelligence, we had created, by ourselves, a written schedule for control of Ruf-Ruf by the time I was three.
My sister also had unconditional love for a stuffed Goofy she named Goofy. She dragged it around by its ears, thus allowing us to practice our sewing skills at a young age. Me, being a purist, objected to Goofy’s plastic face and therefore never developed much attachment to him.
I honestly have no idea what happened to Ruf-Ruf. Most likely it was passed on to my younger siblings or to a nephew/niece. My only stuffed animal at this point is a dragon named Smaug, Jr. (another story behind him), which I mainly keep around so chicks think I’m sensitive
Sua
I had a bear named Ted when I was young. Apparently he was filthy and torn, and I took him out of the lost and found pile at the apartment we were living in. No idea where he is now.
My fiancee’s bear is called QT-Bear. She’s had him since she was a month old. Apparently she used to angrily correct anyone who called him “cutie”. He is grey and worn, but he still sleeps with us every night. She would be devastated if anything every happened to him.
I had a little panda bear with a music box that my grandpa gave me. I don’t think I ever named it though. I “loved” the black felt around his eyes right off though.
What I remember naming was my Raggedy Ann doll and a pillow. The doll was Din-Din (they best I could prounounce Raggedy Ann when I started talking) and the pillow was Binky. Alright, IS, they are still Din-Din and Binky. Binky went to college with me and started sleeping with us when I got married too. I periodically have to make new pillow cases for Binky. :o
My daughters’ favorites are/were mostly dolls too. The 7yo’s was a My First Babydoll which she became attached to from a very early age as soon as she could reach for toys. She started out calling her Baby for about 6 months after she started talking and then she changed it to Dolly. That doll no longer comes clean when she is washed. She’s just too loved. My 2yo’s first favorite was a regular plastic faced and hands doll which she named Rachel after the little girl down the street. Then she received a doll for her 2nd birthday which she named Baby Tina and she now has to go with us everywhere. But she also has a bear which we made at the Build-a-Bear Workshop. She pointed her finger in a name book there and it was between Paul and Paula so I asked her which one she wanted. The bear’s name is Paula which is good since she picked out a ballerina outfit for her to wear. She loves Paula. I think I might go get Paula a new outfit for Christmas. It can’t be comfortable wearing a tutu all of the time.
Big Teddy. We met when I was three and he was four feet long, so for a while he was bigger than I was.
Some time after we moved back to Israel he found himself living on the balcony of my room, more from absent-mindedness on my behalf rhan anything else. A few months in the harsh sun made his beautiful red-and-blue coat fade, dry out and split. My parents deemed him beyond repair and sent him away. To a Big Teddy Farm, I suppose.
BTW:
My Dad calls me Blue Boy (or Blue for short), because of my eyes.
That’s what I gave my kid, a bad dream destroyer.
She has named it Magic Kitty, its a snow leopard as big as she is. She has told the same kinds of stories of how magic kitty comes to life, and they go on all sorts of adventures.
I did have another bear, though, a beloved blue teddy. When I was four I was “operating” on it and left the desk lamp pressed on its tummy when I went off to eat lunch. The lamp was the kind with the bendy neck – the bulbs get really hot on those. I returned to find my blue teddy bear on fire! I called my mom, who in her panic threw it on the floor and stomped on it. Then she threw it in the garbage. The memory is so traumatic I can’t even remember the bear’s name!
My teddy bear is a sandy type of brown bear, with floppy arms and legs with feet that look like little potatoes. He has a little black nose, and a smile, little ears, and a maroon/velvet ribbon around his neck. I got him when I was one (according to my parents) and for the longest time he had no name. Then one day I was watching Seasame Street with this bear and on it Big Bird was talking to his teddy bear, Radar. What a perfect name, my four year old mind thought, and that has been his name ever since. A few years later, I received a jigsaw puzzle with Fozzie bear on it. It had Fozzie bear (baby Fozzie) in the middle of all these teddy bears, and I looked and Radar was on the box! Of course I was certain my Radar was famous. I also have other stuffed animals that are special, like a floppy cocker-spaniel dog I named Ribsy after the Henry Higgens’ dog in the Beverly Cleary books, a white rabbit named Buster, a grey Scottish Terrier named Scottie, and a St. Bernard named Sam (Scottie and Sam are the same brand of stuffed animal, I believe). Radar, Scottie, and Sam formed my stuffed animal “Trilogy.”
KID? My current bear is named Blair. (From the Exorcist…) Yeah, soon he will be Jester’s stepteddy. Anyway. I had one when i was in fourth grade- Cherry. I still have him but he’s been abandoned. (I’m such a deadbeat stuffed animal parent sometimes…)
I didn’t have a bear. I had a monkey, and his name was Monkey Jo-Jo. He was black and yellow and had a banana in one hand. Sorta like this, but different. I had him up until I was probably 6 or 7 and then I don’t know what happened to him…
my first animal was a black seal. my uncle gave him to me. his name was see-al. see-al helped me walk, i guess all kidlets need a “balance pole” when they start walking, see-al was mine. after see-al went to heaven, my cousin gave me her son’s panda bear. her son was 30 at the time, i was 8. i named him pizza. pizza panda stayed with me until a recent washing machine accident sent him to heaven. a polar bear puppet i bought in churchill has top honours now, his name is winston, of course.
She loves Paula. I think I might go get Paula a new outfit for Christmas. It can’t be comfortable wearing a tutu all of the time.
