Almost nothing has surprised me more about Maggie than seeing her with her baby doll. We have baskets and baskets of toys, puzzles, games and anything the poor girl could want, but time and time again she seeks her babies out and totes them around, loving on tehm to no end. Before she got “New Baby” for her birthday from my parents, she was smitten by a replica baby doll from my childhood, we named her Val.
Val has practically been cast-aside and New Baby has taken over. New baby is never, ever far from Maggie’s side, getting pushed, dragged, wrapped, rocked, hugged, traced, fed, and sometimes even washed. I am not surprised at how compassionate and loving Maggie is, but I am surprised at how careful and caring she is towards her baby. I’m not entirely sure, but I think New Baby has a bed time right around our usual dinner time. I say this because Maggie can often be found zig-zagging around the house with New Baby swaddled up, singing to her….if Barry and I notice this too much or ask about New Baby, we are looked at with the ‘can’t-you-see-my-baby-is-freaking-sleeping’ look. So we have to ignore them both and let Maggie put her baby to bed. It is beyond adorable.
Maggie also has a special voice that she uses when she talks to New Baby, I can’t quite figure out how to describe it, except to say that it is equally adorable. It is the same exact voice that she uses when she talks to Sydney. (Ummmm….it also might be the same voice that I use when I talk to Sydney…)
Slowly New Baby is becoming that toy that when it comes places with us – and you better believe it comes places with us – I worry what’ll happen if it gets left behind. As I kid, I would have freaked out if my Chicky Blanket (LOVE!) would have been lost, and Barry had his special dinosaur that now lives in our keepsake trunk. I don’t think Maggie is going to have any years-long attachment to New Baby, but ever since she came across New Baby in her stroller on her birthday, they’ve been the best of pals. (And I totally get it because I’ve got a baby of my own that I’m very attached to…)
We’ve become more watchful when New Baby is out in public with us and so far she has come home every time. Like Maggie, keeping clean clothes on New Baby is a challenge, especially since Maggie hasn’t quite figured out the dressing of New Baby. So, New Baby goes naked a bunch, we just have to ignore the dirt that she’s acquired from all the toting around.
When Juniper randomly started LOVING on anything that resembled a baby doll (i.e. robot) around 18 months, I knew this mothering thing must be instinctual. I’ve always wanted to write a post about that…one of the many back-up posts in my head. Anyway, since Hazel was born and we have a real baby in the house, Juniper has come into a jealousy phase. We still catch her nursing baby sam here and there, but just tonight baby sam was thrown (THROWN) unceremoniously from her bed. It comes and goes. One minutes she’s swaddling and rocking him, the next minute she’s stomping on his face.