He's there in my tags: Oliver Monkey.
This is him…
He's called Oliver after the character on Baby TV. The Boy was obsessed with the tv character until about four months ago but Oliver will always hold a special place in his heart, despite not having him until he was 18 months old. I've even got a video of him opening the present containing him, and the first moment he saw him he knew he was Oliver. This monkey has been everywhere with us, on every holiday since he arrived, on every hospital trip, and shopping (although he stays in the car). He's been in the washing machine, hung from the line and cuddled beyond compare.
Oliver has always been The Boy's favourite toy, he's smooth and soft, shaped so he can hold him with one hand, and he had a fold of ribbon on the top of his head (his hair) that The Boy fiddles with when he's first woken up. I've had to stitch his tummy shut, his right arm back on and repair a small lesion on his head. He is loved.
This…
… is not Oliver. This is a cousin, a spare, a replacement, in case (God forbid) we ever lose Oliver. They don't cross paths, Mr. TBaM is too worried about it destroying the universe in some sort of temporal anomaly. Occasionally he's been called into play when the true Oliver is being washed, but it's done in the dark so that The Boy doesn't spot the visual differences. He can feel them, but I tell him Oliver is fluffy from having been washed. I don't know why we don't tell him there are two, but he's not to know. It just feels wrong!
So imagine my distress earlier when The Boy followed me into the forbidden spare room. It's used as a dumping ground, but it's also where spare Oliver lives. Safely, so there are never any crossovers. Until today. Because The Boy was holding the real Oliver when he spotted the spare Oliver. I tried to back him up but it was too late, "There's a new Oliver mummy!" "No no," says I, "You're imagining it, you're holding the only Oliver!" while reaching around and flinging the new Oliver into the depths of the boxes. The Boy stood there looking at the space, looking at Oliver in his hand and turned around and walked out.
Am I an awful mother?
No your not an awful mother!! The opposite in fact, the fact that you have a spare Oliver in case he looses his beloved friend is so lovely. What a lucky little boy to have a Mum like you.
Not a bad mother, a sensible one! We have Raff (a giraffe) here and I was worried about something happening to him so I got another and tried to get him to alternate (this was a good couple of years ago now) he sussed it straight away and then ended up with two all the time!
Aww that's not bad at all, that's so cute. It's amazing how they know exactly if they're cuddling the real deal or a second version 🙂
Not an awful mother but a very funny one. I just laughed so much at this, sorry. I could picture it all and picture the boys face.
We lost a precious beanie cat of Theo's at the beach in Brighton. Despite many return searches he was never found and oh the tears! I searched every charity shop (as they were no longer made) and eventually found one just before the following Christmas looking just like our lost one. The new cat appeared in Theo's stocking wrapped in a box with some beach pebbles. To this day he has no idea how "Father Christmas" found his cat on the beach and saved him! Some times you have to do these things, hopefully the second Oliver sighting will be forgotten!
I had to giggle at this. For some reason, none of my kids had a blankie or a toy like that but my nephew has an identical one to yours, which he calls George and they also have a spare for emergencies…
It's the sensible thing to do I think.
lol I do the exact same thing. I have 5 of my oldest favourite toy and 3 of youngest. Needs must. But love The Boy's face x
You *tossed* spare Oliver across the room??? :O I hope he had a soft landing. It sounds like the Boy may have thought he was imagining it, you are safe! My niece has a blanket like that and then 3 spare blankets at people's houses just in case!
i think you were a meanie to the fake Oliver – tossing him into the abyss of your spare room!!!
we had the same things with Burton and his penguin – my dad bought two so we would always have a spare which came in handy when penguin needed a wash!! Burton knew it wasnt the real deal though. anyway, when he was about 2 years old he found penguin 2 and just accepted him. i think the boy would do the same thing x
tee hee, love this. very cruel, playing mind tricks like that… but totally necessary 😉 we tried to get a 'spare' Terry the turtle but on the one occassion we needed it, it didn't work – just not old, raggedy or smelly enough sadly. Make sure you chew it a bit more every week as time passes and you might get away with it 🙂
Aww, bless. No, very smart for having 2 Olivers 🙂
We have two Hugos. We did a lot of subterfuge so Little Man didn't know or so we thought. Second Hugo was used to go to Nursery. Until one day Little Man opened the tumble dryer and said whilst holding original Hugo,"Oh look there's nursery Hugo". He knew all along. Nursery Hugo is no longer allowed to go to nursery and has become Home Hugo or Posh Hugo as he now wears a bow tie Little Man found in one of my husband's drawers. 🙂