Kipper Power

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Anna is a big fan of Kipper. Ever since Anna started to have a bedtime story at 6 months old, Kipper has been one of her favourite books and, up until this week, Anna's love of Kipper has been purely based on the books, which is often her story choice.

Well, the big fan just got bigger! Much bigger!! In fact, Kipper is a hero in Anna's eyes.

You may remember that Anna's Great-Great Auntie Eileen knitted her a 3ft Kipper for Christmas and, ever since then, Kipper has become Anna's new best friend.

Every night, Kipper has to come and lie on the bed to hear the bedtime story and, after I have read the story (which is a Kipper book 9 times out of 10, as chosen by Anna), Anna then insists that she reads the story to Kipper. Then, while having her bedtime drink, Anna insists that Kipper has his own cup of drink too!!! Finally, after tucking Anna into bed, Anna won't let me leave the room until I have tucked Kipper into bed next to her, given him a kiss and said 'Sweet Dreams Kipper', just like I do with Anna. Last night, I actually forgot Kipper and I soon knew about it when I walked out of the room.

"Mum. Mummy. MUMMY"screeches Anna as I am walking downstairs.

I run upstairs to see what is going on, to be greeted by Anna giving me a very dirty look. "Say sweet dreams Kipper."

Each morning, as soon as Anna wakes up, she no longer bothers with her Mummy. " Good Morning Kipper" she says as she gives him a kiss. I have to wait my turn for my kiss and can only have one after Anna has talked to Kipper about her day ahead.

Once Anna is dressed, Kipper then comes downstairs, carried carefully by Anna, and takes pride of place on the sofa (He even has his own space on the sofa! 'Kipper's chair' Anna says if I start to place my bum anywhere near it!!)
Recently, Anna had been a little poorly (really bad cold and cough but just hoping it did not go to the chest) Therefore, I was a little more relaxed about the TV viewing as we were unable to go to our clubs. However, there is only so many times that we can watch the Night Garden, Balamory and Mr Tumble without going round the twist. I then found out that BT Vision (our Freeview system) allows you to rent Kipper episodes for 50p per 24 hrs.

I cannot begin to describe Anna's face when she saw Kipper moving on the screen. Up until now, she has only seen (and adored) Kipper in the books so, to see her hero moving, singing, talking and basically come to life on the big screen was just magical for her! When she dared to move her eyes from the TV, she gave me a look of complete amazement with her mouth open wide as though she had just seen an alien land from outer space. She then proceeded to run around the living room at 100mph laughing and jumping up and down with joy (she forgot that she felt ill for 10 minutes!!). She was so excited that she couldn't even focus on the TV! After calming down, I did replay the episode and she watched it agog, unable to stop smiling! It was just a shame when it stopped and Anna suddenly looked very sad and crestfallen that Kipper had gone. Luckily, the Kipper cuddly toy came to the rescue as we put on Anna's favourite CD and Kipper started dancing!!

Just to prove how much influence Kipper has, there is one other events which may illustrate it.

Due to Anna feeling really poorly with her cold, sleep had been virtually non-existent. Each night, we attempted to give her some Calpol to help her rest but to no avail. Anna screamed so much at the sight of it that it was not worth seeing her in such a state. We then attempted it again but this time, I pretended to give some Calpol to Kipper first. Anna watched Kipper take his medicine and, before I could say anything, Anna said 'My turn now' and held her mouth open, ready to take it. Without so much as a blink of an eye, she swallowed it and then turned to Kipper and said 'Good boy Kipper' as James and I looked on in amazement!

We are now using Kipper at every available opportunity. For example, when Anna won't eat her vegetables, Kipper is called, where he is a very good dog and eats them all up, quickly followed by Anna eating her vegetables too!!

I may be requiring Kipper's help a lot!!