Hattie's babies

Elsie has never played with dolls. She doesn't trust them. Well, she doesn't like their eyes. Since she was two, she has bunched up her baby blanket and called it "Baby Pinky." And she treats it just like a baby, feeding it a bottle, rocking it when it cries...but there is in fact no baby in there. Just the blanket. She got a doll last Christmas at the Harrington Christmas and the eyes would open and close and she got one look out of the wrapping paper and cried right in the middle of gift opening. Dolls are just not her thing.

So I have been so surprised and delighted by Hattie's love of dolls. We had three dolls that she would hold every so often, but then a few weeks ago our neighbor girls invited us over to see if we wanted any of their playroom toys that they were going to give away. We came home with an incredible amount of toys, and mostly dolls (5!) and doll gear: a double stroller, high chair, carrier, and rocking cradle. Honestly, I was most excited for myself. I love everything that we got to bring home!

When we got home it was Hattie who started putting the babies in the stroller and walking it around. She shoved one baby in the high chair and gave it the play bottle. She calls her bottle her Na, and she kept saying, "Na! Mama! Na!"

As it turns out, she calls all of her babies Mama. And she plays so hard. She moves them all around and now that her babies are up in her room, she gets them situated and then reads a book in her chair.

I'm so delighted by her playtime. And in a surprise twist, Elsie has joined in, following Hattie's lead.