please HELP lost ..........part 2

[emmatmg]

here you go ladies.....

Hope Strawberry makes a succesful recovery and can be accepted by his new adoptive mum, but if at the end he's not suitable, I think that this thread shows what an amazing bunch of people you all are, what you have done is great. I love mumsnet

PS. ANd who knows, maybe, with soooo many people loging to find about strawberry, surely there's a possibility that someone has another one in the right size. Don't you think so? We should get this thread to the news... or maybe not, I don't know how will it be for Skie's family to receive a multitude of strawberrys, may be even th real one?

Ah, I've just posted on the previous thread about this! Can you not wash Strawberry in a very hot wash so that he shrinks? alternatively you could just try her with the new model, 4 months is a long time and she might, just might, not notice that he is bigger. Or she might just bond with this new one?

Hmmm, I'd be a little worried about the colour running and Strawberry ending up a uniform dirty brown colour!

skie, my ds1 has a bear he is extremely attached to and can't live without. he is another family member, a bit like strawberry. we bought a couple of replacements which he won't even look at, except one of them, because we told him that that one was his bear's mother. So now he views her with great affection (although she still isn't a substitute for the real thing as far as going to sleep is concerned) and he loves the idea that his bear has a mummy. If we lost the original bear, I think bears mummy would give him a lot of comfort. Do you think you could give her the new strawberry saying it is strawberry's mummy? She might feel that they have something in common then, and get some comfort from her, while you continue the search for the real strawberry???

I agree with Rhubarb that it's worth a try to give her the replacement Strawberry - after all she hasn't got anything to compare him to so she might not notice the difference in size! If you maybe just take a bit of stuffing out and dirty him up a bit.... God, I sooooooooooo want this to work out!!!

I may do the mummy thing. Not sure. Not long ago, a friend found a love heart the same size as strawberry with arms and legs, etc, very very similar but not him. Anyway, she posted it to dd, who ripped it open, then went very still and quiet. She usually chats non stop, but she just lifted this love heart and held it very close to her face.. Eventually she said it had made her feel sad because it had reminded her of strawberry boy. I have a horrible feeling that this would happen again, and just thinking about it makes me want to cry! I'm going to phone Peeko.
By the way, it's true what someone said about how this shows what a wonderful bunch of mums you are.

Oh god, I'm going to start crying again now!

just phoned that peeko number and it doesn't exist. And I called directory inquries with Isle of Man thing and there's no such company at the address (now it's national energy company or something...)
Sorry everyone!
I realise there's only so much you can all do! However, is any of your friends/ your mothers/ your neighbours or yourselves EVER EVER see this toy in a charity shop or car boot sale or at the bottom of a toy box - EVER - please, please buy it and contact me - cos I know DD will still be waiting.

Is there absolutely no way you, or someone else, can do a little (or a lot...) of radical surgery on the bigger one? Take him apart, cut him down and sew him back together? I would offer, but can't sew for toffee....But surely it's worth a bash....

But even if you do find one the same size, it's never going to look the same as the original so maybe just tell the truth - that you searched all over the world and found Strawberry's mummy who wanted to come and cuddle you (your daughter) and make you happy.

I think Tinker's right - she almost certainly would tell the difference anyway, wouldn't she? Strawberry's mummy is looking for Strawberry too, and came to your house to give her a cuddle?

Surely there must be people who organise toy fairs - does anyone think they might be able to tell us about Peeko? Or do you think Peeko is the name the manufacturers gave the toy, rather than the manufacturers name, IYSWIM

Oh, how tragic!

This is such a shame - I am heading for a tour around some local charity shops at lunch time (ds is having a Victorian Day at school and needs some trousers, a brown scarf and possibly a waistcoat) so I will have a look then.
Maybe we should put up wanted posters at our local schools, nurseries or mums and tots groups - we could print off a copy of strawberry (or am I taking this too far and getting too involved?)

skie, just trying to inject a note of hope here, dd lost her Stieff Petsy teddy bear in France when she was 4 and of course cried about her. However we had already bought Petsy mark2 because Petsy 1 was wearing out(actually Petsy 2 is a slightly different shade of honey because couldn't find one exactly the same) which was waiting at home. For the rest of the holiday she had to take a different toy to bed but when she got home she loved Petsy 2 just as much as Petsy 1. She is now on Petsy 3 as Petsy 2 is too worn and stays in her bedroom. This is the final Petsy as dd has just turned 7 but she still takes him (for some reason the other 2 were girls called Petsy but this one is a boy called Smudge, although all are Steiff Petsy's?!) to bed and in the car for long journeys. Just wanted to tell you that children can love another and transfer their affections, dd still talks about Petsy1 but believes that a little child has found her in France and loves her. (Having the book "Clown" by Quentin Blake helped there).

Couldn't you tell her the truth that you have tried very very hard to find strawberry but cannot find him. A very lovely lady heard about it and sent another strawberry who has no little girl to love him. Could she look after him?
Perhaps you are trying too hard to get the exact replica. Your dd would probably notice the difference - smell and feel of it and the like. (My dd could tell if I got her pillowcase mixed up in the wash )
That way you are not going to upset her by lying to her. She may well realise that this is the closest to strawberry she is going to get and will accept him. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

we may do the mummy thing... it's just the risk of upsetting her more...

I know that if we had one the same size, and roughed him up, she's definintely believe it was the same one.

We'll think about it!

You've all done so much!

mears, that's a lovely idea

Is there anybody out there that works in journalism that could do something with this?

Skie, you do realise that we're not going to give up until your DD has another strawberry one way or another.
On her 18th birthday your post will be something like this......
'Thankyou all so much for your hard work over the years but look, she's 18 now she doesn't need a bloody strawberry anymore. Will you please stop, we can't get in the spare room because of all the fluffy strawberries, Please please we're begging to stop'

Only joking of course, I feel all redundant now that strawberry is out of my hands, I hope we can all think up a suitable story for new strawberry and your DD. Ilike the mummy one too.

Skie - I am not so sure she would believe it was the same one - although he could look identical, you wouldn' be able to replicate the smell. I kid you not, my daughter is fixated by smells.
Although it was a wonderful idea I think there was still a risk of rejection and then your dd feeling betrayed by you. Better to come clean. Give it a go. You may well get a wonderful surprise

I must say that you have all put a lot of effort in here but for my kids we tried the rpelacement and it was no good. The new ones werent worn enough or smelly enough!

I think you are prolonging the agony and you should perhaps just accept it has gone and move on.

Sorry.

Hmmm Coddy I was wondering about that. I have just managed to find another bear for my dd aged 16months, identical to her favorite one. I wondered if I should alternate the two so that they end up equally battered and then she wouldn't know the difference. Seems a bit mean though

NO, I htink theses things are special because there IS only one of them and in the strawberry situation I htink the subject needs to be changed ehen the topic arises - its just cruel to try and revive it.

I dont htink we are all in therapy because we once lost a teddy bear or whatever - life goes on