The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh Life, Consciousness, and Existence Quotes

Milne implies something along the lines of "it's the thought that counts." But not just in the gifting sense. If we take step back we can consider Eeyore's balloon as an example of a thing's true identity, or essence, as some Greeks might put it. Two things are going on here. First, Eeyore's excitement about the color and the size of the balloon when it was blown up implies that an object's past attributes or potential attributes are still important even when they don't exist anymore. At the same time, the past tense, "when it was a balloon," implies that even though the floppy thing Eeyore has consists of the same material as the balloon, it's not a balloon anymore because it's not blown up like we expect a balloon to be. Leave it to Eeyore to make us get all deep and theoretical. 

Milne often shows us how his characters discover things about themselves. In this case, Tigger pretty much starts with a blank slate—he doesn't even know what kind of food he eats. Notably, Tigger arrives at this basic knowledge through sensory, oral exploration. That's what babies do, too. 

Milne doesn't tell us how CR would know all this, or just what he would know. It is the most vague thought in the book, probably. And therein lies its brilliance. There's no specific philosophical thought at all, just the invitation to ponder. Kind of a oneness-with-the-universe moment.