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Sunday 13 September 2015

The Hedgehog Fiasco

Now this little fiasco is nothing to do with the fact that the stuffed animal below is a badger. My eldest calls it Hedgehog and it is one of her most beloved toys. Many an evening has been spent looking for this little bugger before the girls will go to bed. 
His small size and subtle camouflage make him perfect at hiding in the messy jungle that is our living room. His frequent hiding places include toy handbags, pushchairs, behind cushions on the sofa , inside shoes. Anywhere to keep us guessing (and swearing) really. 
The one and only "Hedgehog" 
 His little tricks did go up a notch somewhat the day we got back from holiday. 
That night we put the girls to bed and had to say that Hedgehog was playing hide and seek and they could play to find him in the morning. That bought us a little more time. We came down and went through all our luggage, checked the car, anywhere we could think of. 
We both fell into the sofa and looked at each other. 
Hedgehog was gone.
On the way back from holiday we'd stopped at a big stately home for a picnic, it was the last time either of us could remember seeing him, he must have fell out of the car.
Now I'm not one to anthropomorphize stuffed objects but I did feel a little sorry for the furry little guy that night, lay in a field somewhere, but I also felt a little bit crap as a father knowing my little girl was going to be so upset the next day.
I hatched a plan. 
We brought Hedgehog from a National Trust property a year or so ago. That next morning I rang round a few local National Trust properties and found one that had a toy Hedgehog badger that matched Hedgehogs description. 
As soon as they opened I was off. Within an hour I was back with a much fluffier version of the toy we all loved. I even kept him in the footwell of the car and kicked him round a bit to dirty him up. 
I then loaded the washing machine and chucked Hedgehog The Second in with it. I called my daughter over to help me get the washing out. 
She found him. 
She looked at him, saying nothing.
Then looked at us.
Seconds ticked by.
She looked back at Hedgehog.
Had we been rumbled?
"Hedgehog got fat." She  finally said
"He's just fluffy from hiding in the washing machine" I said "Silly Hedgehog"
"Yeah, silly Hedgehog" replied my eldest. "Tonight I won't cuddle him, I'll sleep on him to make him thin again"
I slept contented that night that I'd been a good dad and kept my girl happy. 
The imposter 
The next day at work my wife text me.
" Just been presented with a skinny Hedgehog "Look mummy, he's all skinny again!" Don't know where she found him. Little £$%£!"

Guess we hadn't lost him after all.

Bugger.

33 comments:

  1. Oh Kev I can relate to this. Our youngest was deeply attached to Scarf Teddie and he got left home when we went away for a weekend. We returned to collect him and knew our youngest would sleep that night.

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  2. We still went away but it just added a bit more travel time.

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    1. We were worried that she wouldn't sleep! luckily she was so tired from the drive back that she crashed out.

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  3. Oh Kev, that's just the funniest story ever! One of my cousins when we were small had a koala bear that he used to take everywhere. He used to sniff the fur on it and it ended up bald eventually, and then the arms and legs fell apart but still he kept it, carrying the body parts around in a carrier bag even though the stuffing was falling out. It was years before he could be persuaded to get rid of it!

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    1. I lvoe the idea of carrying around your beloved stuffed toy in component form! Good conversation piece!

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  4. Our DS never got too attached thank goodness but he did like a wooden bead caterpillar we named Herbert. He got left on a field when we loaded the pushchair into the car.

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    1. It's Hedgehog and Peppa for us. The youngest also has a George pig and Candy cat. We have lots fo toys to find each night!

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  5. My son had a small plush shark when he was little. It's name was "Blue Jaws" though I couldn't tell you why. Blue Jaws got lost once and we went through the same trauma. Finally found him at about eleven in the evening, after shining the truck floodlight across the area where my boy played.

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    1. It's funny, sometimes things turn up in the weirdest places, I remember looking for our eldest shoes once, I spent half and hour looking only to find them in a draw in a table.

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  6. now you have a spare and can work at roughing it up, mine never had anything they were attached to, you are a good dad going to all that to make your daughter happy :-)

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    1. I feel like kicking the little blighter around some nights when we can't find him but the new one has fone nothign wrong yet! Maybe I should keep him in the workshop!

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  7. Im with Dawn, hide the spare somewhere you will remember. Maybe in a shoe box so if the doors are opened and the little see it they wont see Hedgehog 2. Then when he is lost again you can find him again and then at least go to bed.

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    1. We'll keep the spare but I don;t know if she'd buy it twice!

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  8. What a great post! Thank you so much for making my day. :)

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  9. That's funny. Wonder where it was "hiding"at.

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    1. No idea! the little sod likes to keep us guessing!

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  10. Story takes me back. Same type of set up but with a teddy bear named Rugby. Luckily he was located the next day after an exhaustive search. There could not be a twin..he was no longer made. Rugby sits on a place of honor on a bookshelf in my bedroom..well worn and tattered and mended..much loved for many years. My son is now 25.

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    1. This was one of the last few of this toy in the shop but I can get more off eBay, maybe start a small army of them! I think that's why I didn't want to loose him, it would be like loosing a part of her childhood!

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  11. I think a spare is a very useful thing to have, ....should save you a lot of effort should the original 'hedgehog' get 'lost' again.

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    1. Yeah, we'll keep the first reserve on standby!

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    1. It's mad, I never thought I'd be as crazy as I am!

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  13. Nice story and yes I agree you are a very good dad. You were actually very blessed to find a replacement, so glad now that you have a spare in the event the original goes missing again.

    Where was the original hiding?

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    1. No idea where he was but he must have been hidden good! I tell you after looking for an hour I almost glad I didn't find the little sod!

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  14. Such a good dad (parents) you are. So funny hedgehog got fat then thin. I take it hedgehog 2 is now hidden away in case you need him in the future LOL

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    1. He's on standby, ready to get his call into duty!

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  15. Hilarious. We had the same problem with a small blankie. We spent 20 minutes every nap and bedtime looking for it. One night it disappeared for good and to our surprise our son fell asleep without it. I found it the next day and thought if he could sleep without it once I would just tuck it away in his memory box and never have to search for it again. That same day our son adopted the blanket which happened to be in his crib, which happened to be pink, as his new blankie. My husband was not amused. But it is much bigger so at least we have never lost it between the couch cushions!

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    1. I think if this Hedgehog was a bit bigger we'd have so much less fuss finding him. I'm tempted to get a tracker fitter!

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  16. You are such a good Dad (good parents).

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    1. Sometimes! If we were we wouldn't have lost him in the first place!

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  17. When my girls were smaller (the youngest will be a teenager next month ...gulp) I seriously considered trying to buy duplicates of best favorites because of the bedtime mystery hunts ..."it's hiding again" the muttered under breath (well hopefully under breath) rude words and the tired desperation that ensued ...but the favorites never seemed to have twins available ..darn it .
    Even the pet goldfish had adventures ...I remember when they were small that I noticed that instead of 5 tiny goldfish we had 4.... so rushed off to the pet shop ..no car... so a mad dash of a mile each way ...much pleading with a kind lad at the store to catch an identical fish from the hundreds filling the huge tank (he was really good about this) a frantic run back home (by now puce in the face and rather bedraggled clutching a fish in a small bag) add fish to tank ...make tea, rush and pick girls up from school... and then I had to explain to the girls why we now had 6 fish ..... the delightful creature had been hiding in the filter all the time....say no more...

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