What could be better than one baby doll?

TWO

Over the past few weeks, Daughter has been saying things like, "I sure wish I had a baby doll like Son's," and "I would really love to have a baby doll to take care of."

So, Daughter got her first baby doll. It looks exactly like Son's except it is dressed in pink (the only other option was the yellow like his). And much like I thought, she loved that baby doll for 17 minutes. And that's been about the extent of her really taking "care" of this baby doll she wished and wished for.

Son on the other hand, has taken this orphan baby into his arms and heart. He gets so excited he runs around shouting, "two babies. I have two babies." And I have to remind him that one of the babies is Daughter's and he's just taking care of it. (More than once she has demanded HER doll back when Son has been tending to the infants.)

He also brings me his dirty baby asking to put it in the shower. Its clothes are horribly dirty and I really should throw it in a pillowcase and wash the thing.

(BTW, I've posted a couple pictures from this angle lately and I want to explain what the background is. See the baby gate? It's the only one we've ever had and it's really a "play yard" I bought it two years ago to go around the Christmas tree. Now it is used for what I call "Book Jail." It is around my two bookcases that house most of my books. And the kids aren't allowed in book jail. Book Jail was erected shortly after Daughter started walking and she tore the cover off one of my Kurt Vonnegut books and a few pages out of a Bret Easton Ellis book. Also, the garbage sack is my shredded paper that is waiting to be taken to be recycled. Anyway, that's completely irrelevant to the rest of the post, but I thought I'd tell you about Book Jail and more things my kids trash.)