The Veggie Best of Friends:

Mimi’s curious comforter.

While I’d like to think I’m the most important man in Mimi’s life right now, there is another. This guy is her other go-to when she’s down, tired, or just in need of a cuddle. He’s eminently huggable, always smiling, oh, and he’s green.World, meet Broccoli – formerly known as ‘Babo’, but then her pronunciation got much better.

Mr B is a home furnishing from IKEA, a cushion not strictly intended to be a soft toy or a comforter, but in our house he is both. Mimi adopted him as her bedtime buddy at around 13 months, after grabbing him off the couch in her room, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. In the early days of their partnership, Broccoli was so much bigger than her that it made us newbie parents nervous. But there was no chance of wrestling an oversized vegetable from her vice-like grip. And that grip hasn’t loosened, a year-and-a-half hence. Though now Mimi’s the bigger one, and poor B gets choked out, MMA style, every night, poor fecker.

Broccoli is so important, such a fixture in her life, that he even has understudies. Yes, trips have been made back to IKEA solely to purchase stand-in vegetables for naps in Nana’s house, and even when she started occasional days in a creche, they made sure there was a smiling green face there to make her feel at ease.

*Parents please note: For trips out of town, you haven’t really gotten good at packing unless you’ve figured out how to jam a two-foot floret of broccoli into your suitcase (the solution being: forget about bringing your OWN stuff!)*

THE MANY USES OF AN OVERSIZED VEG: From car naps to tantrums & a good night’s kip, Mr B is always there.

Interestingly, and probably unlike plenty of other toddlers, Mimi is happy to eat broccoli (the veg, not the cushion). I wonder if some hideous cannibalistic realisation is going to dawn on her one day that will require a long talk, and possibly therapy in later life.

I’m not sure how this dependence is going to work out, I have had visions of dropping her off for her first day of college with a sagging, tatty, overly-loved piece of broccoli hanging out of her bag. But we’ll cross that socially awkward bridge when we get to it eh?

For now though, Mr B is the man – he’s always cool in a crisis and has not once complained about the volume or variety of fluids that have, on occasion, been spewed upon him. Mimi would list his best qualities as his being, soft, cuddly, and ever present. Me though, I’d have to say: he’s machine-washable.. and quick-drying!

I bet your kids have equally bizarre comforters or bedfellows that they’ve latched onto, do let us know in the comments or tweet us at @WalkingDad_IE . No prizes for the weirdest, save the morbid fascination of fellow parents!

 

One Messy Mama

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Dada Written by:

32 Comments

  1. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    My girls have each had one. With my eldest she attached to a baby comforter sent from Australia. We spent 3 years stressing and panicking that she’d lose is somewhere. When we had my youngest I bought 5 of the same one. We’re down to 3 but that’s cool. They’re almost done with them now.
    #globalblogging

    • Dada
      February 20, 2017
      Reply

      Cool. You can never have too many understudies for the all-important comforter eh? Can’t see old Mr B getting the boot any time soon.

  2. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    Hahaha..Mr B rocks! My kids had it too! But a bit smaller version of it;)) They are now 8 and 9 and Mr B is safely packed in a box in our attic;) #globalblogging

    • Dada
      February 20, 2017
      Reply

      Wait.. there’s SMALLER versions? Oh man, if only I’d known, might have saved us some baggage charges!

  3. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    This is hilarious! #globalblogging our 1 year old daughter is obsessed with one of her older brothers scariest dinosaurs and takes it everywhere!

    • Dada
      February 20, 2017
      Reply

      Thanks, Pam. A dinosaur sidekick is SO much cooler. Way to go, your girl!

  4. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    My little man loved broccoli too until he hit two! Maybe I need to go to IKEA and invest in some plush vegetables! <3 #globalblogging

    • Dada
      February 20, 2017
      Reply

      They also do a very cuddly carrot, Rebecca. But sadly for him Mr C never got promoted to bedtime buddy!

  5. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    My, that’s a big broccoli! But I’ve read many studies that say it’s great for kids to have comforters, even veggie ones. It shows they can securely attach, blah blah blah. But broccoli sort of wins the prize for best one. My son didn’t really have one and my daughter dragged a Big Bird from Sesame Street around.

    #globalblogging

  6. Amazingly my kids didn’t pick a “lovey”- either of them! My eldest has a teddy bear that we try to bring to overnights with us, but if he’s not there it’s not a huge deal. My younger daughter either has no toy, or just whoever she was playing with that day. It’s strange because I remember my sister having a blankie that my grandmother had to make again and again (and some small ones for grocery store trips) so she never “lost” it.
    ~Jess
    #GlobalBlogging

  7. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    I still sleep with my baby blankey. She’s in perfect shape, thanks to my unbridled passion for keeping her neat and clean even though she went everywhere with me. My mom and dad said it was apparent by age 10 that nothing would make me give up Blankey but that I had to at least keep her at home when I went to school. I acquiesced to their demands with grace but would sneak it into sleepovers. Turns out, most of my friends had something they needed to sleep with also! #GlobalBlogging

  8. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    My 5 yo only had a smallish unicorn. There was actually 3 of them that got rotated, but she never knew that. So if it got left at Grannie’s house… it magically appeared in her bed again. #globalblogging

  9. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    Any kid can have a teddy bear, right? I applaud the trend-setting broccoli decision. My eldest ate everything…until he turned three. It was like a switch flipped and he was suddenly picky. Here’s to better luck for you! 🙂

  10. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    So funny- the twins have blankies but my oldest daughter has had all kinds of “interesting and unconventional” lovles

    #globalblogging

  11. February 20, 2017
    Reply

    Peachy doesn’t have a favourite but she’s sort of obsessed with all of her soft blankets. She likes to pet them as she falls asleep. But she’s ok without them when she’s awake. She will still pet them and wear them over her head if I let her, but she’s ok leaving them in the crib until naptime. #GlobalBlogging

  12. February 21, 2017
    Reply

    We haven’t gotten to that point yet, but his favorite is a soft book with crinkly pages in it. He can sit there and look at it for hours, and it is a great distraction when we’re out in public. #globalblogging

  13. February 21, 2017
    Reply

    I think I might need a cuddly oversized veg in my life, it looks great! #GlobalBlogging

    • Dada
      February 21, 2017
      Reply

      I can highly recommend it. I want one for myself but I’m waiting until they bring out a potato version.. it’s an Irish thing! 😉

  14. February 21, 2017
    Reply

    What an adorable buddy! Mr B sure is cute! My kids would probably love this, they ADORE Broccoli, I know, weird! We call it Tarzan Tree’s though 🙂 Thanks for co-hosting #globalblogging this week 🙂

    • Dada
      February 21, 2017
      Reply

      Will have to see if Mr B fancies a name change, Tarzan’s Tree is WAY more macho! Lol.
      Thanks for having me to host, Jacqui, loving getting to read such a diverse collection of posts.

  15. February 21, 2017
    Reply

    That is so cute! I know it can be a pain to have to deal with Mr B, but it’s so important in her development! My son has no favourite cuddly toy, he just hoards all of them onto his bed at bedtime, so he literally has a small square for himself ?

  16. February 21, 2017
    Reply

    My eldest had a blanket that he would take every where. He finally outgrow it when he was around 9 years old #GlobalBlogging

  17. February 21, 2017
    Reply

    This is brilliant! A 2ft floret of broccoli must indeed be very hard to pack but when your kid takes comfort from something you gotta do what you gotta do. Very funny! #GlobalBlogging

  18. February 21, 2017
    Reply

    If our worst parenting fail is broccoli related, we’re so winning at life! Children find comfort in the strangest things! I love the idea of getting stand-ins and stunt doubles for him

  19. Mr B! Hahaha, this is such a cute post, and picturing this big broccoli tagging along everywhere is making me grin from side to side:)
    When my son was a baby, the comforter and love of his life was his soother, and his night-time comforter was a teddy… but now, he sleeps with a car (whichever is his newest) or superhero figures and last night it was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!

  20. Sorry, forgot to mention, popping over from #GlobalBlogging
    PS: Does she like eating broccoli? Not the IKEA one, but the real thing;)

    • Dada
      February 21, 2017
      Reply

      Strangely, yes she does, Nicole. Wolfs it down! I’m just waiting for the day of realisation that she’s been eating her best pal’s family – that’s gonna take some explaining!! Thanks for reading.

  21. February 21, 2017
    Reply

    We’ve got a pink and black spotted cat that my eldest took a liking for a while to. #GlobalBlogging

  22. February 22, 2017
    Reply

    Dude you are funny! I like this post alot, I also like you blogging name. Looks like I’ll be back reading your random musings in the future.
    My daughters don’t have one thing in particular, and now after reading this I feel cheated and shall be placing a real live carrot in their beds every night in the hope of them forming an attachment.
    I myself had a scruffy blanket up until I was 12! I new at the time I was to old for ‘cover’ but we were mates, so I hid it under my bed when my school friends came over to save my street cred!
    Mr B is cool, thanks for sharing.
    #globbalblogging

  23. February 22, 2017
    Reply

    Ha ha ha we’re still preggers and in the middle of buying up lots of lovely expensive things that we dream will be her “fav” but I am quite sure she’ll do something similar and grab the most unlikely candidate in the house! Great post, thanks for sharing!

  24. February 23, 2017
    Reply

    Wow I love her the oversized broccoli. It does look like a comfy pillow #globalblogging

  25. February 24, 2017
    Reply

    I love the broccoli best pal – such an original toy. My son has a 2 foot penguin that comes everywhere with us (‘PiPing’) – when he is holding it in the buggy you can’t see him beneath it. It’s so soft I’d quite like to cuddle up to it at night time as well! #globalblogging

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