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Tracy ThimbleBeary Originals
Iowa
Posts: 2,049
Website

I don't remember a particular teddy I was attached to as a child, although I do still have my first bear that Mom saved for me.  I had my thumb and my "cold pillow".  Okay, yes, I was a strange kid. :redface:   Sucked my thumb with a corner of said pillow in my ear.  It was a small pillow made from pillow ticking.........think my grandma made it, but I'll have to ask Mom for sure.  Anyway, the surface fabric was always cool, so it was my cold pillow.  I have no idea why I needed to put the corners of it in my ear and hug it while sucking my thumb. bear_wacko   I still have this too.......it's put away along with my first bear and my Chrissy doll that I drug around everywhere.  Poor Chrissy is faded on one side of her body from where I left her outside in the sun.  And her once pretty hair is a permanent rat's nest.  But I still love her!! bear_wub

millie PottersHouse Bears
Ohio
Posts: 2,173

My teddy bear story involves a bear I was never allowed to cuddle.  As a child I would catch a glimpse of my dad's old teddy bear back on a shelf and I would beg mom to let me have it.  She would take it down and let me hold it for just a few minutes, the he would go back up on the shelf.  This was the only way I could touch that bear.  I had many stuffed animals, but that bear was very special to me.  Before my mom died, 20 years ago, she told my sister to make sure that I got the teddy bear.  I now have him in a glass case in my living room where I can see him all of the time.  I had him appraised.  He is a German Petz bear from the 1920's and valued at $800.  He is still very special to me.

WildThyme Wild Thyme Originals
Hudson, Ohio
Posts: 3,115

Oh man... I have a repulsively discusting blankie story.... I had a very FUZZY acrylic bankie with Raggedy Ann on it.  I was Raggedy Ann obsessed as a child.  I loved that blankie so much... slept with it every night.  Well... one day my parents started noticing this really foul smell coming from ME!  From my face to be more precise.  I had developed a raging sinus infection... something that's not very common in little ones.  Well, the pediatrician put me on one anibiotic, then another... eventually after months it seemed to clear and then out of the blue it would return.  After taking me to my pediatrician, then an ear/nose/throat specialist for something like 6 months... no one could figure out what was triggering the infections.  Well, my parents took me to Bucks County for the summer to visit my Mom's parents... and of course, the infection returned... this time REALLY bad.  I was smelly, suffering, and could barely breathe.... Away from our "big city" and regular docs, my Grandmother suggested that we all hop on the tractor and "drive" through the woods to "Doc's" house... I'm still not sure to this day whether he was a people doctor or a vet, but he was just the sweetest man, and he was the guy everyone went to if they weren't feeling well, or if their horse was having a tough time giving birth!  After my distraught mother described my symptoms, he took one look at the two year old me, clutching my little fuzzy blankie... and REACHED FOR A HUGE PAIR OF TWEEZERS!!!!   bear_shocked  bear_shocked  bear_shocked  bear_shocked

Up my nose the tweezers went, and out came a HUGE mass of decaying, nasty acrylic blankie fuzz!  Goes to show that high priced specialists aren't always the best bet when dealing with really unusual medical situations.  Sometimes those "backwoods folks" really DO know BEST!  I left there scared outta my mind, but a whole less stinky, & able to breathe!  bear_rolleyes

Doc got a basket of Grandma's squash as payment for the "procedure."   bear_wub 

Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

chrissibrinkley Posts: 1,836

Kim, your blankie story is like an episode of House  :crackup: Took one doc to think outside the box and "see" the situation.  Good old Bucks County docs...gotta love 'em bear_grin

:hug:
~Chrissi

Jennskains Posts: 2,203

EEWWW!  I can imagine that happening!  I work with several blankie obsessed children!  My storyinvolves a blue bunny that was put in an incubator with me 2 days after my birth  I carried him around everywhere and when I got old enough to be teased for having him He went into hiding in my backpack.  Anyway, when I was around 11 or12 his ear came off as a result of years of being dragged around by said ear.  I sat down with him and did a very unprofessinal mending.  After that he found a place on a bedroom shelf.  Many years later I was talking to my mom who brought up the blue bunny.  I brought it to her to prove that it was green.  I then decided to wash the bunny and he turned a bright blue.

pandamac 'EmBears
Northern New York State
Posts: 917
Website

Wonderful stories. I had lots of stuffed animals as a child, none were my favorite....I would pick out a different one (or was that 10) to sleep with everynight. I used to play with them, marrying them off, a duck to a monkey, that type of thing.....

My favorite bear story is the one I received when my son was born 29 years ago. I was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks before labor was induced (I had toxemia). After Aaron was born at 9:34 PM, David goes out to tell everyone that everything was fine, came back into my room carrying this HUGE (about 36 inches tall) Teddy Bear. I had 2 IVs in each arm, but put my arms around the bear and fell asleep. (They started inducing labor at 7:00 AM) Somewhere in the night, I think in the early morning hours, a lab tech came in to take blood....so he took the bear and put it on my feet at the end of the bed. As he stuck my arm, I moved my feet, and the bear moved.....the poor tech just about jumped out the window.

Well, the bear came home with us and spent the next 24 years in my son's room. I used that bear as a prop when my kids were growing up to take pictures so we could see how big they were getting compared to Big Bear. When my son moved out and left for Florida, he gave me the bear.....I hugged it and cried on it. And then I opened the back, washed him up and re-stuffed him. He now sits in the corner of my room with my other animals.......

My son now has a stuffed wolf that he bought for a girlfriend who passed away several years ago......and, he still uses his "doggie" pillow that my cousin made for him as a shower present. I have kept some of his old stuffed animals (and ones from my daughter) they are all in the attic, waiting........and waiting for grandchildren......

pandamac

bearlyart Canna Bear Paint
NY
Posts: 749

Jared, the stuffed dog is in storage with my childhood teddy bear collection.  I think my brother's prized giant T-Rex is in there as well!  (Mom always was smart about what an older brother might like...)

Kim, no problem if the guy was a vet, you needed somebody with "horse sense" anyway!

Cheers,
Kelly

Jare Hares & Bears Jare Hares & Bears
Polo, IL
Posts: 983

Well I think teddy is packed away somewhere safe...

melissa Honeythorpe Bears
Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 1,789
Website

But see SueAnn you will always have your thumb...

ha - so we'd like to think!  I have a story for you thumb-suckers that will make you thankful you didn't have my siblings.  My brother and sister are only 18 months apart, and then I came along some 7 years later....so as you can imagine I was the perfect walking, talking and easily scarable toy for them.

Now, I used to suck my thumb as a child - only at night.  We had a book called Struwellpeter, which is of German origin and full of those educational moral tales for children, don't play with matches, don't be proud, eat all your food and.....don't suck your thumb or the scissor man will come and chop them off while mother isn't there.  Needless to say, not my favourite story...

One day when I was about 4, Mum went out and left my brother and sister in charge.  My sister decided that we should read Struwellpeter and in particular the story of little Conrad suck-a-thumb.  So we sit there reading the story and I clearly remember thinking, it was ok because I only sucked my thumb at night and it was day time so everything was fine.  We got to the vital point in the story where Conrad is sucking his thumb and in the story the scissor man burst through the door - the line in the story goes


The door flew open, in he ran,
The great, long, red-legged scissorman.
Oh! children, see! the tailor's come
And caught our little Suck-a-Thumb.
Snip! Snap! Snip! the scissors go;
And Conrad cries out - Oh! Oh! Oh!
Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast;
That both his thumbs are off at last.

Off course, at that vital point my brother bursts through the doors -wearing my sister's red trousers and  waving mum's  long dress making shears, laughing maniacally and shouting Snip Snap!  I was absolutely terrified!  If anything, it made me suck my thumb even more!   bear_grin   I don't think they were very popular with my mother for that one and definitely not popular with me.

You can see the story here if you're brave enough!
http://www.fln.vcu.edu/struwwel/daumen_e.html

Hermann did release a struwwelpeter bear.....I will NOT be buying it for my collection!!   :crackup:  :crackup:

struwwelpeter.jpg

Jare Hares & Bears Jare Hares & Bears
Polo, IL
Posts: 983

How terrifying!
And what was the author thinking? Writting such a horrid story... How gross!

Jare Hares & Bears Jare Hares & Bears
Polo, IL
Posts: 983
WildThyme wrote:

Up my nose the tweezers went, and out came a HUGE mass of decaying, nasty acrylic blankie fuzz!  Goes to show that high priced specialists aren't always the best bet when dealing with really unusual medical situations.  Sometimes those "backwoods folks" really DO know BEST!  I left there scared outta my mind, but a whole less stinky, & able to breathe!  bear_rolleyes

Doc got a basket of Grandma's squash as payment for the "procedure."   bear_wub 

Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

That's so gross... ewwwww...

Now if we could only pay for our visits to the doctor's or dentist's office in Teddy Bears. That would be really good health care insurance. Way better than an HMO. :)

Kim, your blankie story is like an episode of House   Took one doc to think outside the box and "see" the situation.  Good old Bucks County docs...gotta love 'em   
~Chrissi

It does sound like an episode of HOUSE. That would be my new favorite Medical show.

Swan Valley Bears Swan Valley Bears
Penn Valley, CA
Posts: 1,845

I didn't have a teddy bear either.   bear_sad   I had a sock monkey that my aunt made.  My cousin named him Carcass and the name stuck.  We didn't know what the word meant, obviously.  I had him until high school when my friend's dog ate him.  I also had a Raggedy Ann.  I got her for my 3rd b'day, the day my brother was also born.  A few months later, I left her outside in the rain and she disappeared.  My mom told me she ran away because I hadn't taken care of her.  A few days later my mom woke me up early in the morning.  She told me to go downstairs as someone was waiting for me.  Behold, a brand new Raggedy Ann was sitting by the front door.  I really believed she had come back.   Well, I may not have had a teddy bear in childhood but I made up for it plenty in adulthood!

hugs,
Patty

Tami E Tami Eveslage Original Teddy Bears
Milford Ohio
Posts: 2,367

These are so great! Keep them coming.

Jare Hares & Bears Jare Hares & Bears
Polo, IL
Posts: 983
melissa wrote:

Hermann did release a struwwelpeter bear.....I will NOT be buying it for my collection!!   :crackup:  :crackup:
struwwelpeter.jpg

What is wrong with people????

Jennskains Posts: 2,203

That pic is warped!

Sandi.S. Posts: 1,277

Oh, I just love all the teddy and blankie stories. Well, except for the scissorman story. That's creepy. I can't imagine sitting down at night telling my 3-year old that story.  bear_shocked

Well, I can't remember if I had a teddy or not. I guess if I did it wasn't very special. I do remember a couple of my favorite dolls. My mom saved some of my toys and recently got them down from the attic. There were some Barbies and other sorts of dolls and the cutest little Strawberry Shortcake dolls. They were the baby versions of the characters and had little bottles and could wet their pants. I do remember really loving those little dollies. I guess I think it's neat now since Strawberry has made a comeback and now my little girl is infatuated with her!

Jare Hares & Bears Jare Hares & Bears
Polo, IL
Posts: 983

My niece loves Strawberry Shortcake too. SS looks like a little girl and not a tart!

Sandi.S. Posts: 1,277

Yeah, Strawberry's a wholesome girl. We have almost all of the movies and I tell you, that kid could watch nothing but Strawberry all day long! Your niece and my daughter are really close in age. I saw in another thread that Maelynn turns 4 in Jan? Natalia does too.  bear_original

JeannieB JeannieB Bears
Greensboro NC
Posts: 1,183

alexbb5.JPGSuch sweet stories! My old teddy bear is Blue Bear. He was my only bear until my mom got me a bear from Tammy....Beckoning Bears. His name is Alex. Now, that I am becoming an archtophile...I have Alex, Lady Spencer from Beckoning Bears, Alexander from Kimberly of Bear Bottoms, Cola from Bears By Beesley and Blue Bear!
I just found out that my long, lost stuffed dog named Snoopy....is actually named Henry...and Henry was the spokesman for Animal Fair Toys in the year I was born!
Isn't the internet great! I would've never known. My Grandpa gave him to me and my first real puppy, Rusty chewed his head up. I still kept the headless body of Snoopy for years! I had to hide him so my mom wouldn't throw him away!

Jare Hares & Bears Jare Hares & Bears
Polo, IL
Posts: 983

If you fall down, try to make it look like you did it on purpose, and get up as gracefully as possible.

I do this all the time... :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

majdle Posts: 130
Website

nebru269ici.JPGHello!
This is quite an old teddy memory - the picture is of my Mom with her favorite Teddy called Nogrowl. He used to be my Grandma´s only teddy and when my Mom got him, he´d already lost his voice - that´s why he got his name.

Tami E Tami Eveslage Original Teddy Bears
Milford Ohio
Posts: 2,367

What a beautiful memory!
There is such a family resemblance between you and your mother. Thanks for sharing this sweet photo.

majdle Posts: 130
Website

panda.JPGThanks:-) Here are some pics to illustrate the family resemblance:-) the first is me in balc and white when I was about 4 and the other is from right around my 5th birthday.]

majdle Posts: 130
Website

Tyellowbear.JPGhat´s the one with my bear Vilda (Willie). It was taken at my granparents´place.

Eileen Baird'sBears
Toronto
Posts: 3,873

bear_original What a beautiful combination of bear, mom and memory, Majdle bear_wub

:crackup: Nogrowl--great name!! :crackup:

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