Dearest Yoyot...

Yoyot during one of his surgeries.

For those of you who know my family or myself in person, you may know about Big H's cuddly toy, Yoyot (named after a doll (Yoyotte) in the lovely French film 'Ponette').

Yoyot has been with us since Big H's first birthday when I gave him the cuddly toy monkey as a birthday present. I myself fell in love with the monkey when I first saw it at Toys 'R' Us at Mid Valley nearly 7 years ago hence the reason why I bought it for Big H.

Little did I know that Big H would be so attached to it that he can't go to sleep without his Yoyot - even now!

So Yoyot, from the fluffy and cuddly soft toy that he was, is now a limp and sickly looking monkey which has undergone a few 'surgeries' on my operating table when I mended a torn tail or arm or fixed a 'dislocated' filling due to too many times in the washing machine and due to being thrown here and there, pulled, grabbed and jumped on - as young boys normally play with their toys, no matter how much they love them.

Some parents may be concerned about their kids being too attached to a certain item e.g. a blanket, a doll, a pillow but I am not really worried about his attachment to Yoyot as he actually has slept without Yoyot before when we went for trips and sleepovers - to me it's not a big deal, he will grow out of it in his own time and that little monkey won't last for too long now anyway...

Yoyot and his new found brother Zoyot.

But yesterday when we went to a car boot sale at Chigwell, guess what we found? An exact replica of Yoyot, only a slightly darker colour and it appeared to be unused and brand new!

The man sold it to us for £1.50, from £2. I bought it because it was such a find - I actually did try to buy another 'Yoyot' a few years ago because his condition was getting worse and worse even then and I tak sampai hati nak buang without a replacement at that time - but I couldn't find the exact same one.

We did look around at quite a few places back in Malaysia so imagine my surprise when I found it sold in a car boot sale here in the UK!

As soon as I bought it though, I thought...perhaps I shouldn't have bought it after all...what if Big H is going to cuddle to sleep the new one now as an alternative or replacement for his old Yoyot? That will mean he will sleep with that new monkey for a few more years yet because it's still in very good condition!


But as I have found out, I really have nothing to fear, really.

Yoyot is Yoyot and nothing else can replace it, even another monkey that looks exactly the same!

From what I saw from yesterday and today, Big H doesn't really care for the new monkey - only Little H keeps on cuddling it, and if I know Little H, he's just doing it to be funny - that little one's interests range more from Legos to guns and robots so I'm not too worried about him cuddling the monkey for a few days.

Since the new monkey is now owned by Little H, I asked him what he wanted to name his new cuddly toy. He said;

"I know!"

"What?" I had asked.

"Let me whisper it to you..." - recently he has taken up this new 'thing' of whispering his thoughts to Mr S's or my ears.

"Ok..." I had said, bending low so that he could reach my ear.

"I want to name him 'Monkey'..!"

Hmm..

We ended up with the name Zoyot, which Mr S suggested and Little H quickly agreed upon. (Mr S first suggested Boyot for 'brown yoyot' but Little H didn't like it so much so he suggested the former pulak..)

Even though I think Zoyot won't be a long term fixture in Little H's life - I'm certainly going to take care of Zoyot as a reminder of how dear Yoyot used to be. He used to be so shiny, soft and cuddly and in fact, he was taller than Big H when we first bought him! I think I mostly wanted to buy Zoyot for myself, really..as a part of my own memories of my first born in his growing years.

Below are some old pics of Big H with Yoyot in various times and locations...:)

The boys melanyak my bed.

Just waking up from sleep..

With a family friend.

During a trip to Melaka.

On Ateh's sofa.