Loved.

Last night I watched Toy Story 3. I hadn’t seen it before. I definitely cried at the end. It got me thinking though about my favorite toy as a child. I still have him. He’s still my favorite, we’ve been through a lot together.  I decided to write a bit about him. I was inspired by Toy Story 3 but also I feel like everyone I know has that one toy that they’ve had forever and just can’t part with it. My sister has Baby Woolite (a stuffed lamb), my Dad a Teddy bear he’s had since the age of five, my Mom floppy puppy ( a puppy that is well very floppy due to lack of stuffing after many years of love).  Me? Tigger.

Now my Tigger is not a disney Tigger but a 1920s Steiff tiger. This is what Tigger looked like when I got him when I was seven.

My Tigger is the big Papa tiger. Now a little history of how Tigger came into my life and what he looks like now after years of love.

Growing up my sister was given my Mom’s Steiff leopard with green glow in the dark eyes. I loved that toy. Let me emphasize I LOVED it. His name was Baby Green Eyes. I would beg, plead, cry and beg some more to play with Baby Green Eyes. To have him sleep in my bed. My sister was pretty cool and sometimes she would let me but the majority of the time he lived with her.

So when I was seven years old for my birthday I got the best present ever. It was a good year in general, American Girl stuff, Roger Rabbit stuff, and then Tigger! If I had a scanner I would show you the picture of me holding Tigger absolutely thrilled to have a Steiff of my very own. Now mine was a tiger as opposed to a leopard. That’s because the tiger is my totem animal. That is a whole other story for a whole other blog. But Tigger was from the 1920s. He had green glass glow in the dark eyes and was stuffed with saw dust. He still kind of is.

Tigger went everywhere with me. He still kind of does. Not in a creepy I take a stuffed animal everywhere I go, but when I travel I like to bring him. He looooves traveling.  Tigger came with on all three trips to London. On the firs trip home I had him in my carry on bag with his little head sticking out. As I went through security, the girl pulled me over for a random check. She turned to a co-worker and said “Is this random enough for them?” In my head I thought hey! Tigger is vicious. But this was the year after 9/11 so probably not my best idea to get into it with security. On my second trip home from London, I was putting him through the x-ray and the security guy asked me if it belonged to my kid. My response “Um No. I’m twenty” And my last trip back from the U.K I sat next to a very nice woman and her two sons who were probably about 9-12 she laughed as I set Tigger on my lap. She told me both of her son’s have stuffed animals they travel with too. Tigger has been to NYC, California, Missouri, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Indiana, and Wisconsin. He’s a pretty well traveled tiger.

This is Tigger now. Remember this is 22 years later. He was in mint condition when I got him but remember he’s also almost a hundred years old now.

Tigger has been loved. Most of his mohair has rubbed off. He’s been patched more times than  I count. When I was little I didn’t know how to sew and I was too impatient to wait for my mom to fix every little rip that happened to him. So I would use band aids. He’s got a 1996 Olympic band aid on his tail. When his ears would fall off I would kind of stick them back on then to secure them I would wrap ace bandages around his head. He could still see of course.

Tigger has been through a lot with me. There was lots of playing, traveling, snuggling, and taking care of me. I think no matter where I end up in the world he will come with me.

So that’s just a little blog of my favorite toy growing up. Hopefully you’ll read it and think of your favorite toy and even better you’ll go pick him up and give him or her a hug! I’m a big kid at heart.