When expecting our first set of twins (sadly we lost them at 19 weeks), I bought them this little lion from the Miffy range of soft toys for babies called Cute as a Button.
We went on to conceive twins again. They were born extremely prematurely and devastatingly our son passed away when he was 4 days old. Our little girl, his twin sister, survived. She has just turned two but has developmental delay due to her prematurity and prolonged hospital stay. She still doesn't really speak and her vocabulary is limited to about 3 words.
Anyway, when she first came home at nearly 8 months old, we gave her the lion. She used to lie on her play mat holding him and talking to him. She used to say "Dee-Dee!" whilst she was talking to him. It stuck. She plays with the lion every day, still. He's filthy but I am scared to wash him in case he doesn't cope!
Until very recently, our daughter has had issues with soft toys, and for the main part, still won't touch or hold them. It's different with Dee-Dee. Slowly, we've encouraged our little girl to give him little cuddles. She will now cuddle him for a few seconds (often he gets launched across the room after that but you can't win them all). Today, she even gave Dee-Dee a kiss. My heart melted.
So, he's small. He was inexpensive, and he brings great joy. He is also ridiculously cute. Long live Dee-Dee!