Sophie and fans

                                    Louis and Sophie
                                    May and Sophie
                                   Alex and Sophie

It's a cliche, but the old ones are the best. I'm talking, of course, about baby toys. Specially, about a certain 1961 hand-made rubber number that is the hot teething toy among a particular strata of DC moms. (And happening Bermondsey ones.) Let me introduce Sophie La Girafe, who has achieved cult toy status on both sides of the Atlantic without so much as a celebrity endorsement. 

Louis has been a fan for the past month or so, but it's only now, with his first tooth rearing its pearly little head through his inflamed pink gum, that I've remembered I need to spread the word about Sophie to any non-believers out there. At first glance, the dappled rubber giraffe may not grab you as much of a looker. Granted, there are many fancier looking teething toys. Take Louis' vibrating star for example. But behind Sophie's simple face lies a gem of a toy. Her squeezey, squeaky body has just the right number of extremities in just the right places for even a tiny baby to grab and the sensation of natural rubber against a sore gum provides just the sort of relief that itchy teeth coming through require. Well, that's Louis' verdict anyway.

It was May, pictured above, who first alerted me to Sophie's existence. (Or her Mum, Jill, to be precise.) Next thing I knew Lisa was raving about Alex's Sophie (also pictured above). Suddenly there were Sophies everywhere. Almost every baby at yoga seemed to be knawing on one in between their downward dogs. So, of course, Louis just had to join in. For any Sophie virgins out there, she's Amazonable (isn't everything?) and if you pay the special delivery charge then your baby too can have a Sophie in time for Christmas. Or, more importantly, in time for that mouthful of choppers to arrive. 

PS. I take it back about the lack of celebrity endorsements: Sophie La Girafe's UK homepage features Harlow Madden (who is none other than Nicole Ritchie's daughter - not that you'd know from the name) having a good old chomp. Looks like Sophie's underground days are numbered.