Where there is Leo, there is Papa. These days the pair go hand in hand. Papa is his favourite, the well-loved and precious bear that myself and his father are most nervous to lose and at times, the most desperate to find.

The love that Papa Bear and Leo share, although incredibly adorable, is incredibly smelly. If Papa Bear was a cartoon he would have had green smell lines following him around, a smell that only his owner, someone who truly loves him, could not be repulsed by. This smell has made me desperate to wash him for weeks and yesterday as I was reading Leo and Papa their bedtime stories it became clear, we could not wait another day to give Papa a bath.

So how on earth do you wash a bear that is so well-loved it is basically attached to your child’s hip? This is how we did it…

1.  Steal bear from room when child is distracted, preferably during a meal time (breakfast), as they are locked in their high chair and cannot follow you just to check up on what you are doing.
[Another option to consider is to steal bear once child is asleep at night, washing and then drying inside under heater, however the risk of child waking up in night, searching for bear, not finding bear and being inconsolable at 2am may not be worth the risk!]

2.  While washing machine is occupied, hide said bear in random assortment of laundry so as to be unseen by searching child.

3.  Wash on delicate cycle in pillow case and pray the stitching holds.

4.  Hang out on the line in sun, DO NOT make my mistake of thinking little eyes won’t spot him from far away and please, for your own sake, hide bear amongst other washing.

5.  Wait patiently until dry, ignoring all cries and random searches for darling bear. Distract with all other bears that you know very well aren’t as good or as loved but will just have to do for the time being.

6.  Reunite and hope that love is still mutual even after the stench of many kisses has gone.

Luckily for us, it was.