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Does anyone else still have their first teddy bear? Here is my 'Big Ted', bought for my first birthday by my parents from the 'Civil Service' store in Nigeria.
Big Ted is a beautiful 22" English Chiltern - I love these bears! Over the years, he has retained his fur and nose stitching, but his velveteen paw pads wore thin, so many years ago my husband carefully stitched velvet pads over the top of the existing pads. 'Big Ted' still has his 'Chiltern Hygenic Toys' label stitched into his side seam and somewhere deep in his tummy is a squeeze growl that just grunts now. These days he wears a grown up paisley bow-tie as the original ribbon disappeared in the mists of time!
Pics are of me aged 17th months - taken in Africa.
Me and Big Ted, with my youngest sister - taken when I was about 15. Big Ted sports a tartan scarf and rosette to complement the old Bay City Roller's tartan cap my little sister has borrowed from the depths of my wardrobe!
And finally me and Big Ted not so long ago!
Anyone else care to share?
Cleathero CreationsDoes it count if my first bear has been taken by one of my daughters?
I want to take her back in some ways but seeing the delight and love in my daughters face as she drags the bear everywhere stops me dead.
Bine-TeddiesI have my first teddy, stuffed away though. He is a sleeping bear lying on his belly and his back is all bear, rubbed off by my baby hands. 
This reminds me, I should take him out now that I have a teddy bear habit.
Bronwen - your bear has become an heirloom, it went from mother to daughter. That's lovely. I got my mother's first bear too. He is all soft and collapsing now, because his wood wool filling has crumbled and turned to sawdust. She doesn't want him back, but then she has my old dolls.
Pandy Potter Bears
Here is my first panda. Its called Panda. Well I was young when I had it. I was'nt a doll person I just had a Tiny Tears and a Pippa doll. My nephew is 8 and loves cuddlies too. My daughter who is 10 does'nt like dolls but then she does'nt like babies either, only child, can't do with the competition. I made her bears but my nephew seems to have got the bear bug, not her. Bears are so much more cuddly than dolls, but I still have my Tiny Tears too.
When I was a child I was a sickly and in and out of hospital a lot and always vomiting.All my childhood toys had to be plastic or they ended up in the bin.
I got my first bear at school from a friend .He is a merrythought cheeky and I still look at him every night and love him!!!
Here he is ....
My first teddy bear is somewhere at my mother's house, I haven't seen him for years and each time I go home have another hunt for him. I suspect he is a Polish import (I think that's where most of the 60s/70s bears came from.) He was meant to be a musical bear but some overzealous visiting child overwound him and so I don't ever remember hearing him play, As a consequence I never bonded with my bear.
When I was a tiny tot, my furry companion was a real lamb named shadrach - we used to sit under the kitchen table toghether and I used to snuggle into his wool. He grew up to be a bad tempered ol' ram that I was petrified of!!
I do still have my "Cookie Bear" and my koalas that I got when I was about 3 and who became my favourite soft toys. I loved my first koala so much that it is now bald and falling apart at the seams. Cookie Bear was an advertising bear for a biscuit company - he is lovely - unjointed and kind of hard, but I loved him. Somewhere I have a photo of me with him the Christmas I was given him.
Newcastle, OntarioPaula, I wish I had my first ted - a panda that played Brahms Lullaby. He was brown and cream and I've looked for a similar bear for years. I also wanted to tell you that I was cleaning out my studio last night and was browsing through a Dec.04 Teddy Bear Scene, as it had an article on my bears in it and I was suprised it also had a lovely article on you and your teddies. I really enjoyed reading it. I guess I was so focused on my article when I got it, that I had missed yours. I feel delighted to be in the same magazine as you!
Hugs,
Brenda
'Bear' Bottoms OriginalsYes, I still have my first Teddy Bear, Bubba, a little white potbellied bear. My 5 year old sleeps with him every night now, and around his crooked plastic nose has holes where it's rubbed thin. He's completely matted, I used to adore the one soft spot he used to have when I was a kid that was under the one armpit of the arm that got smashed down from me sleeping on him. I used to pet that spot with my finger. I checked not long ago, it's soft, but not as soft as I remember....
Kimberly W.
UKOhh yes i have my first bear who is 22 years old now. i havent got a pic as he's in a cupboard stashed away but i named him "Todd" ..he is golden coloured with white fur pawpads. with very short legs and arms. un jointed and quite a long head considering the length of his arms/legs hehe. i was given him by my Nana on my 4th birthday and 5 month later she died so he really is special to me. will try get a pic at some stage !!
His fur is still in good nic. as is his eyes nose etc, he's doing well actually! a tiny wear and tear on the back of his neck but that's all !!!
Fuzzbutt BearsI still have my first bear, or rather, I have him again. I didn't find out he was my first bear until my sixteenth birthday -- he'd been handed on to my little sister when she was born and so I always thought he was hers. For my sixteenth birthday my mother had old 3mm film of me as a baby transferred to VHS tape. There was my little steiff bear in my grubby waving hands before my sister was born -- caught on tape! Also caught on tape was my mother rubbing spagetti sauce on my face because she thought I was taking too long to make my usual mess, and my Dad letting me run around with an empty gas can while we were camping.
So I got my first bear back for my sixteenth birthday -- I was already collecting bears . . . my sister collects rabbits.
Baird'sBears
Alas, my first bear went moldy at the top of my parents' garage years ago, and my mother threw him out. Poor TedWhiteBrown. I think I must have been pressured for a name, because I usually came up with something better!
This very day, whilst going through some stuff my daughter and son-in-law bagged up for charity, I found my son-in-law's poor old Teddy!! Naturally, I rescued him and added his precious furry self to my small collection. Can you imagine!
Eileen
Matilda Huggington-beareYes Paula my first teddy is still around. He is at my parents home. A large golden sparse mohair bear with a growler in his chest. I was as large as I was at 2 years of age. He is german. Picked up by my Grandmother on her honeymoon to a german chap in Germany.
Matilda
I don't have my first Teddy Bear. I don't even remember him.......I do remember having 3 very large standing on all 4's dogs that were attacked by a neighbor's dog one time, so they went in the trash. I do have fond memories of playing 'house' with all my animals......a large pink elephant, smaller one and a small multi-colored one, a duck, monkey............
When I graduated High School and came home after quitting the 1st college I went to, we were moving and I was TOLD to get rid of the animals, so I gave them to a friends daughter who enjoyed them, don't know what happened to them. BUT! I would NOT give up my John bear that was my 16th birthday present from a friend of my parents.....I still have John....should have named him David........and my collection has grown again....I can't imagine what it would be like if I still had all the original animals I grew up with.......not a doll among them.
I have saved my son's and daughter's animals.....repaired the one my son & I were given the day he was born. He slept with it for 20 years, then gave it back to me when he left....after I cried on it for a while, I replaced the old rubber stuffing with poly fil, and he sits in the corner of my room with other animals climbing all over him...... 
Raccoon Creek Bears
I didn't have a teddy bear as a child.. However, my MIL had this mohair leopard as a child in the 1930's. Now it's my daughter's possession and she loves it!
I do have my first teddy bear too! Not sure if it is the real first one I got, but he have followed me thro the years.. Got him on my first birthday. A little brown bear with white in his ears and on his paws...
My best toy and bear.. Now he sit on a shelf in my bed room, and taking it easy
Patsy Lake BearsI didn't ever have a Teddy Bear or Doll when I was little .... I got my first doll when I was 5 my uncle sent him to me for my birthday as I was in hospital with TB meningitis .. I was in hospital for nearly a yr so I never got to play with the doll as my parents wouldn't leave it there for me to play with ...it was a big walking doll and she was beautiful. Then my mum let a little girl over the road play with it and she dropped it and of course it smashed.... so I never got to really play with it myself ......
Dolls N DreamsHi, I don't ,but my husband does, we display it in a glass dome in his study.
His aunt bought it for him when he was born and he has kept it all these years.
I think it is sweet!
I liked reading everyone's stories.
I think my first teddy was an orange one. It was orange with a navy bib and a red apple on the bib. I don't know who made it, and it was plush. I still have the bear, and it's at my mom's house. Although I've always had lots of teddy bears, I also always slept with Mimi. Mimi was actually a Humpty Dumpty doll that I named Mimi; I don't know why.
I attached a picture of my first bear. It's not the best, but it's the only one I could find right now. It's over to the left in the picture.
SanguineCreationsI was going to ask the same question 'Do you still have your first ted ?' but thought I'd check to see, if it had been asked before first I'm glad I did.
Here is my first Ted, he's been everywhere with me.(hospitals,childrens home,adoptive home, married home and many other places since) His squeaker/growler no longer works, as I wasn't always nice to him. He's over 40 years old. He needs a bit of a clean, but I'm not sure what to use. He's sounds like he's full of straw.
The doll was given to me by my adult cousin, I've had her nearly 40 years, but I don't know how long she had her before me. She has her original dress and shoes but some how lost her under wear..lol
Jane Perala Designs Ltd.My mother tells me that she washed mine, and he didn't survive the experience. She was always "good" at washing "non washables", and then gitting rid of the evidence ! 
I had a wood sweater/pullover that I just loved when I was a teen, and of course she put it in the washing machine - it would have fitted the little dog when it came out!
Oh well,
Jane P.
Sorry to say I never had a teddy bear as a child ... I did have a little blue pony that was my constant companion. I remember sewing a blanket for it, but I have no idea to where it disappeared. I think it was still at home in a box when I married and left home.
I guess I'm enjoying the teddy bears now, later in life. Better late than never.
Hugs,
Wanda
You're so right Wanda, better late than never!!
I'd forgotten about this thread ... it's been so nice to read through it again! 
Strange BearsI din't have a teddy bear I had a golliwog and he is now quite fragile but he is still ny my bedroom on a chair of honour.
Bears by Jodi 
Chaska, Minnesota
I still have my first teddy bear. I would dressed her up in my baby clothes. She still has on one of my baby dresses. I love he so much she is in my bedroom so I can see her everyday.
