My 4 year old son's "Flatso" has been his best friend since he was an infant. Flatso goes everywhere the park, the grocery store, vacation and even the pool. He serves as a pillow during school naptime and in the carseat on long trips. I can't believe how well he has survived four years of tough love and who knows how many washings. Except for a small tear where his ear meets his head, he looks like he's still new. (My son's friends' "loveys" are all shredded and worn to bits.) I think Flatso may even go to college with him.....
My son never sucked his thumb or pacifier, but the blue North American pancake bear was his comfort which is perfect for infants b/c it doesn't have eye/nose that can come off. I got it as a shower gift and we eventually expanded to other animals but he only ones he likes ones that are from North American Bear company...he doesn't seem to like any other brand (now he is 2 yrs old). They stand up to weekly washings (in a machine, who has time to hand wash? This may be TMI but he always seems to be holding one when he gets sick, thankfully the vomit washes out!), getting pulled out of the crib between the slats and getting carried all over the house. They are a must for play time, bed time, cranky time, sick days, injuries and the like. This black & white dog is one of his favorite North American Bear animals.
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When I was 7 years old, I got a flatso-pup as a present. Thus began my love affair with all the flatso animals. They're soft, and unbelievably cute, and when I was a small girl, they seemed to look up at me with their eyes and say "love me!" And I did. For a while, my mother and I spent a lot of time tracking down and buying every flatso variety we could find. (remember, this was the early 90s, when you just had to scour department stores and hope you hadn't missed anything.) When I went off to college, 2 flatsos went with me to sit on my bed. When I moved out of my parents' house for good, and we were giving away my ridiculous collection of stuffed animals, the flatsos were the ones I couldn't bear to give up. Now that I'm 26, my flatsos are the ones I've kept with me and hope to pass on (or by more of, depending on their state -this flatso-pup has been so loved I don't think it's fit for other humans to even look at any more, let alone cuddle!) to my own children.
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Very soft and big enough to really hug. My son likes it as much as he likes any stuffed animal. He is 18 months and has not taken to them as much as I thought he would. But this is so soft, makes a nice pillow. The one thing, is that the ribbon around the neck got wrapped around his hand and it scared me, But technically that was my fault. The instructions tell you to take it off for small kids which I did right away after the scare. It was easy too, only one snip with scissors. It looks to be good quality and I think he will have it for a long time. Very attractive too.
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Since my son is so young, I'm really the one who loves this. He's not old enough to care about stuffed animals that he can't stick in his mouth. But very early on, we got the tiny rattle version of this to keep on his changing pad. (black and white, soft, makes some noise, he can suck on a leg, and it was a great way to get him tracking items from side to side.) This is the larger version minus the rattle, and it's adorable. I fully expect that when he starts rolling on a regular basis, we'll use this on the floor as we change him. Or just to hug. Pretty much all of the North American Toy Co flat-o-whatevers are great. A++ (Edit: almost 2.5 years later, these have held up brilliantly. "Jameson Jr and Sr" are still beloved and still as soft and huggable as the day that we "adopted" them. Absolutely a winner.)
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I put this keyboard into a children's museum. It has been used hard and continues to be a children's favorite. I am pleased enough that I am going to incorporate it into my music classroom come the new school year.
