Properly Lovely and Utterly Personal from Little Red Boots. *swoons happily*
These are images of my oldest son. He’s 14 now, but can you see a familiar person in these shots?
Yes.
Lionel.
(well – to be fair, you can’t tell from these, but it’s actually LionelS – plural)
See, when he was younger than he is in the shot on the left, he pinched Lionel from the shelf in Mothercare – just reached out from the pushchair and nabbed him, cooing in adoration. Being a new Mum I naturally melted on the spot, and bought him. Three weeks later I returned to Mothercare on the advice of my childminder and bought a second Lionel to use in rotation – just in case one was lost. For over two years he actually had no concept that there were two Lionels – he had one in his cot, and one in his day bag, and never were the two together (we pesumed serious traumatic shock would occur if ‘Lilol’ were to duplicate). Until the day he spotted the second carelessly peeking out of the bag – shrieking in wonder and joy, he refused to separate them. Every night since (yes, even now, though I’m not allowed to show you photographic evidence of this fact) he has shared his bed with Lionels. They’re naturally older, saggier, grubbier and slightly patched.
But honestly – family life would be emptier without them.
Throughout his long illness, we would always know he was having a bad day when he appeared downstairs in the morning with a Lionel in his dressing gown pocket. Lionel is clutched during bouts of sickness, accompanies every family holiday and watched a lot of movies when he was younger.
In fact – we ALL love Lionels, and he has never been abducted or mistreated, even in the fiercest of sibling rows. Some things are just sacrosanct.
So when I got talking to the lovely and talented Kathryn at Little Red Boots, there was only one candidate in my mind. Well – two, I suppose.
Little Red Boots provide ‘toy portraits’. And we think they’re just beautiful. We sent a picture of Lionels over, and waited (not very) patiently.
Then one day the postman knocked…
Excitement fizzed, and we carefully unwrapped the package.
And lookety look LOOK…
Isn’t it PERFECT?
We surprised No.1 Son with it – not really sure he’d want to keep it for himself, but knowing he’d love to see it.
His face widened into a huge silent grin, and he just looked for a minute. Then it was taken to his room – where it sits proudly on his windowsill. He hasn’t put it on the wall (it’s not the sort of thing most 14yr old boys are glad to have up on the wall when their mates come over), but he refuses to allow us to have it in the rest of the house either. It’s HIS. And he loves it.
And we love it too.
We think it’s such a great idea – perfect not only for the small owners of those cherished bed buddies, but also what a lovely way to record your own childhood best friend to hang on your new nursery for your son or daughter to grow up being watched over by?
Thank you Little Red Boots – it’s a priceless portrait which will be cherished forever.
Prices for your own Little Red Boots Toy Portrait start at £35, and Kathryn can arrange the framing too for you.
