On a recent trip to Washington, D.C. my mom got The Princess a set of paper dolls from the Smithsonian. For some reason, my mom had a bug up her butt about the fact that you just can’t find paper dolls these days. There is a reason for that: Paper dolls are a gigantic pain in the butt.
First of all, these things aren’t perforated at all. Mom got this big book with two paper dolls (their names are Charles and Kate) and all kinds of clothes for them. And ALL of these clothes have to be cut out individually by some lucky soul. This ultimately ends up in a blister from the scissors. I wouldn’t even let my mom send the book home with us. Instead, she cut out one outfit for each of the dolls and sent them home with us, along with the dolls.
The Princess LOVES these things and wants to play with them. Admittedly, I don’t particularly enjoy “play-acting”. I will read books to my kids all day til I’m blue in the face. I’ll go on walks. I’ll bake. But heaven help me if I have to pretend that I’m a talking paper doll.
I finally just blew a mommy-gasket and told the Princess, “I do NOT like playing paper dolls.” My mom was a bit upset at me about that – says, “Paper dolls encourage her creativity.” For those of you who have met The Princess, you’ll realize that if she is lacking in one thing, it most certainly isn’t creativity!
Since I don’t like the dolls, she’s now insisted that I’m her playmate for Dora’s treehouse. She gives me about three Dora the Explorer dolls and tells me that I have to be Dora, Dora’s big sister, and Dora’s mami and she’ll pretend to be Boots, and Boots’ daddy. And it goes on and on and on, til not only am I the three Doras, but I’m also Swiper the Fox, and quite possible Benny the Bull. There is no end.
I so can’t wait until Pumpkin is old enough to play with her big sister!
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