The day Olives teddy bear went missing

From the moment we released the Olive and Vince Blog I began watching and waiting for something “blogable” to happen in my life. Having previously experienced daily “blogworthy” type stuff I had volunteered with great enthusiasm to produce our first bit of content, but days passed and it was beginning to feel like “blogblock” had set in. This was until yesterday, when as always Olive inspired a chunk of commentary to pop into my mind followed by a question I wanted to raise with my fellow Mums (and you Dads, although you’re a stealth lot!) - infact Aunties, Uncles and Grandparents too!

Yesterday I was making dinner in my usual Mum style when a child sized tragedy occurred.

Olive appeared in the kitchen to enquire as to the whereabouts of her totally adored and cherished raggy old teddy bear (I hear your hearts stopping - relate?).

Olive and her teddy Feb 2011

As Daddy checked his van, the outside areas and other obvious bear habitats, it became apparent that “Umna bear” had indeed been left at nursery. It was nearly 7pm, Umna was almost certainly locked in and alone.

Whilst Daddy and I sat down to think, Olive disappeared off in an unusually quiet and sombre fashion to weep in the lounge. It was sad, and cute, but mainly sad. Daddy; usually the households master of solutions (when it comes to broken stuff and adult sized tragedies) was empty of suggestions, “the nursery is closed, there is nothing we can do”. So I called my Mum. Fortunately my Mum lives near to the nursery and she was agreeable in going to see if maybe the cleaners were there. They weren’t.

Umna bear all alone

Olive voiced her concerns that Umna would be frightened. I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t momentarily concerned me too. But Daddy managed to relay a scenario of mischief and fun that Umna bear would no doubt be encountering. Olive soon settled and instead spent some quality time with her otherwise neglected bunny toys (fickle, some might say), and the very next day, as the nursery doors opened Olive entered and left swiftly with Umna bear in arms.

 I am glad I can tell a tale of a temporarily missing Umna bear. He’s been with us since the moment Olive was born, given as a gift from her much adored Uncle. Umna is a German made Steiff (in his ethnicity) which makes him extra special because this is the type of bear my Granddad used to collect. Umna was purchased from Hamleys toy shop in London, and we had to take great care in a recent visit not to confuse Olive by exposing her to a large container of Umna’s brothers and sisters! Umna has since become ridiculously humanised in our household. I hope we can manage to keep him safe long term.

Umna on holiday earlier this year.

So - What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to rescue THE best loved thing? Has it survived through to adulthood? And what was it (scraggly old pics to our inbox at info@oliveandvince.co.uk are so welcome – Naomi will be clever and upload them here!). It is so romantic, that little childhood item, whether it’s a toy, blanket or an old bit of cloth – We’d love to know your little tales.

Oh, one last thing. Why “Umna” you ask? Because it’s the sound of a really big cuddle, and the noise baby Olive used to make when she saw him! Umna bear, named by Olive.