Private Thoughts Made Public

Isn’t it amazing how kids always find one soft cuddly toy that they can’t live without for the first few years of life? No-one tells them to do this, they just do. Mine was a little panda, and my son’s lifeline is pictured here. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Homer. Well, not literally, my son would never forgive me if I gave him away!
Homer came into our lives when Offspring was nine months old. We were in the car, travelling on the motorway (I can’t remember for the life of me where we were going) and we stopped at a service station for a break. In the foyer, there was a promotion for a credit card, and the free gift they were giving away was Homer. As soon as offspring clapped eyes on Homer his arms went straight out and a big smile appeared on his face. Even though we didn’t apply for the credit card, the staff were more than happy to let one of their Homers go to a good home.
Offspring took Homer everywhere. After a few months we decided we had to get a spare one so that he wouldn’t be too distressed if Homer got lost. Initially we kept the two Homers separate so as not to confuse the wee lad. I think we managed to keep up that pretense for about a year. When he went for a walk, one Homer went in his pram (or buggy) and one went in his changing bag. When Homer No 1 landed in a puddle, Homer No 2 came to the rescue. After Offspring discovered the second Homer we ended up getting a baby one (suckers!), so he had a little Homer family
Homer has been as far afield as Tenerife and Israel, as well as the Lake District and London. Offspring sat him on his lap while I read them both stories, and turned him to face the page so he could read along as well. He showed him how to use a spoon, and how to sing and dance. I don’t think there’s anything Homer doesn’t know – my son has taught him everything. Last weekend Homer made a friend out of Lego.
Over the years Homer has been lost, found, thrown, picked up, cuddled, punched, soaked, dried off and repaired. My mum got out a needle and thread and performed plastic surgery on him to repair his straggling mouth, attention which he needs again by the look of the photo. I’ve no idea whether this Homer is the original one or not, but he is the only surviving one. I don’t know what happened to the others, but I wish them well, wherever they are. They have done a fantastic job of keeping Offspring calm, fuelling his imagination and being just about the best beany friend a small boy can have…
Homer isn’t my son’s only comforter. He also has a little piece of cloth which was part of his mum’s blue beach wrap. This torn little corner of the wrap has got smaller and smaller over the years, not least because a little bit was kept at my parents house, a little bit at his mum’s parent’s house, and so on. As long as he had Homer, Dummy and Wrap, he was home. No matter where he was or who he was with. You could always tell when he was tired when he started playing with the fringe on the wrap. Tuck him up anywhere with Homer and a blanket (or rug) with a fringe on it and he’d be in seventh heaven.
I honestly don’t know where we’d be without him