A Baby Stella Adventure

Morgan has shown very little interest in dolls. She has a few of them and puts them in a doll stroller here and there...but really, she doesn't do much with them expect remove their clothing. Poor naked dolls.

Piper has a doll named Baby Stella. I know there is another post in here somewhere about her. She is a super-cute doll with a soft body. My generous Aunt Berri bought it for her a few Christmases ago. Piper loves her Stella, but I wouldn't say she's overly attached to her. Lately she has been doing more imaginative play with her, putting her in her baby crib before bedtime and giving her kisses. Sometimes she does a shortened version of our bedtime routine which includes singing her some songs before she goes to bed. She puts her in the doll high chair and feeds her. There is a lot of diaper changing that goes on too.

In the last week or so, Morgan and Piper have been fighting over Baby Stella more. Morgan has decided that she likes to do a little pretend play too, probably inspired some by what Piper is doing. Sunday, I kind of had it with the arguments and doll tug-o-war, so I asked Morgan if she wanted a doll like Stella too. She said "yes." I showed her a picture of a "Baby Stella" that was almost like Piper's doll, but had a full head of dark hair and ponytails. She got a big smile on her face and said she wanted her.

So, that afternoon we headed to the only store in town that carries these dolls and had a little adventure at the mall at the same time. David had left town that morning for a business trip and I needed to keep the girls busy so this was a welcome opportunity. As soon as we got to the downtown mall we made a beeline for the toy store. Morgan didn't previously know this store was there. I don't usually buy toys at this store as I can buy them cheaper at other stores or on Amazon. It's where I go for ideas. Yes, we could have bought the new doll online, but I decided the experience was worth the extra money. I also wanted to see the doll in person, to know what we were getting.

As soon as we got to the doll aisle, Morgan spotted her. "There she is!" she said. I made sure she saw all the other options to be sure this was the one she wanted. She carefully looked at the dolls and the other "accessories". I asked her again if this was the one she wanted, she confirmed and we put her in our stroller to buy. No one was currently riding in it, so I figured the new doll could sit there for now. The girls checked out the other items in the store for a while and were surprisingly well behaved. Piper kept showing up with new toys to suggest...and I quietly put them back in their spots as she moved on. We did score a big container of fizzy, colored bath tablets. They LOVE these things and they'll last us a while. Finally, Morgan declared she had to go potty, so I took advantage of the situation and paid for our two items and hightailed it out of there.

A few shots at Auntie Anne's sharing a soft pretzel. Those things are big! And, since when did they cost $3.00?! We haven't been there in a while and I don't remember them being that expensive. No wonder we don't go out much.

Here's Morgan's new friend! Morgan and Piper both decided to walk instead of ride in the stroller, so "new" Stella got the prime spot to ride.

Here she is, out of her box and in Morgan's arms! Morgan kept saying all night "I LOVE my new doll!" and and think she said once "Thanks for my new doll!" Love her! Currently this doll is also named "Baby Stella," but we'll see if we can coax her into giving her a new name. Less confusion that way.

And not to leave out Piper and the original Baby Stella. I think she's got the idea that the new doll is Morgan's and not hers. She does take advantage of playing with her when Morgan's at school though.

Overall, time will tell if this resolves the "fighting over the doll" issue or if it opens a new can of worms. So far so good!