Two boys and a doll (or two).

My little boys had been dragging American Girl dolls around the house for a while.  They had been taking care of them, loving them, feeding them, dropping them, and tangling their hair.  You know, all the usual stuff. These dolls are meant for our little girl for when she gets older.  My aunt gave them to me because he daughter had grown out of them.  I don't mind that the boys were playing with dolls, in fact, I love it. I like that they were exploring their nurturing side, learning to take care of someone else through play, and role playing "dad".  This was/is an awesome way to prepare them to be well-rounded, caring, and compassionate men. 

Fine, great, dandy, right? Well, if you know anything about American Girl dolls you might also know that I cringed every time the boys would drop them, or tangle the hair, or touch them, really.  They are quite an investment and I really want them to be in good condition for when Grace is old enough to appreciate them and play with them. 

It was my mission for Christmas to find baby dolls (of a reasonable price) to gift the boys so that they can, in fact, still play "dad" to their "babies" (and then hide the American Girl dolls away for a few years). I had hoped to find boy baby dolls, not because little boys can't or shouldn't take care of little girl dolls, I just thought that it might be nice for them to have boys since we'll forever have girl babies in the house for little girl and it would be nice for them to be able to identify with a boy baby doll. Holy cow, it's not an easy task to find boy baby dolls that don't cost a lot of money! 

So this is what I decided to do. 

I bought two of these for $10 each.  Cute. Sweet. Super pink, decidedly little girl dolls...

 ...and turned them into these. Super hero. Camo wearing, little boy dolls :)

I found the clothing at Joann for about $7 and found the mask and cape sets at Walmart for about $5.  I am really happy with the $22 baby boys. Easy-peasy makeover of sorts!  (perhaps it's only easy-peasy because they don't have hair or actual anatomy...)

The boys have played with the boy dolls and think that the "super babies" are great! YaY!  Funny enough, I've found them taking care of Minnie Mouse as Grace carries around the twin boys.  hehehe What's important to me is that they all want to take care of someone else. Maybe this super-kindness towards the baby dolls will carry over to kindness towards each other, right? Perhaps? Maybe?  :P

So yeah, that's the story of how and why we have boy and girls babies in this house. One of these days, maybe we'll get  a baby with some hair...  

Blessings! and Joy! 

nIcole mArie