A Baby Doll for Deacon

Early in the spring we got Deacon something he really wanted, his own baby. You should have seen the way his face lit up when I gave it to him! When you press the belly it says "Ma, Mama!" I don't normally like talking toys but that was his favorite word at the time and he thought it was so funny to hear it from another baby.

I don't think it was just having a sister and seeing her play with dolls. He's always been fascinated with real babies too. His current goal in  life is to pick up baby Hunter off of the floor without being caught. Unfortunately he kind of scoops her around the middle. Babies are pretty top heavy so we've made very sure he doesn't succeed!

Chilling with his baby. 

I love seeing him try to take care of people and toys from such a young age. I'm sure some of it is personality but I like to hope that we can take some credit in modeling it to him. (This may have something to do with the fact that I had to carry him for most of the first year of his life and almost went mental doing it. I take some comfort in the theory that filling that need for him has let him be a secure and loving person.)

How are these pictures only a few months apart?!?

This is actually one of the things that I felt really strongly that I wanted to teach my son, that he will probably be a bigger person than many of the people around him one day and that in our family that means he will have a responsibility to use that strength to help and care for others. He will probably be a father one day and I want him to be a good one. I imagine every parent feels the same, but we don't always make sure we give them the tools. How many little boys would have babies without sisters? Would I have thought of it if he hadn't started stealing Sophie's?

I'd actually started writing this post not long after that first photo was taken. I hesitated though because I am extremely careful  about what I post about my kids that could embarrass them some day. This generation of kids is basically all growing up in public and has no say in it. I didn't like the idea of having something I'd written come back to haunt him some day but when I thought about it again I realized that I'm not ok with the mentality that boys can't be caring and by keeping quiet I was essentially saying that this would be a valid thing to tease him for, when in fact I'm proud.

The real challenge has been finding dolls that ARE boys. The Lalaloopsie ones are the closest I've gotten. I think they'll be friends for adventures when he's older but they aren't good for hugging right now. Most of the babies we have are actually gender neutral in that they have cloth stuffed bodies and plastic extremities. They just come with such an overwhelming array of pink clothing and accessories that it's clear they're "supposed" to be girls. The pink overload and the crappy quality of the clothes makes me want to make them all a whole new wardrobe, but since my kids instantly undress any baby with clothes I've refrained so far.

I'll fix their wardrobe before he's old enough to realize he's not well represented in the toy baby population ;)B