Girls and their Baby Dolls

What is it about girls and their baby dolls?  Emory, age three, has loved baby dolls since she was old enough to hold one.  She had a favorite doll that she used to take to the sitter as a baby.  When she got a little older, her MaMaw and PaPaw gave her a huge baby doll that was bigger than she was, and she immediately fell in love with her. Once Emory started talking, she named her Allie. 

Emory hasn’t reached the stage where she wants to change Allie’s clothes.  On the contrary, that poor baby doll stays stripped down with no clothes all the time.  However, Emory does love to change her diaper.  She even found diaper rash medicine that I’ve caught her using on Allie. 

Emory is a great little mommy even if she is a little bossy.  Recently, I overheard this conversation:

“Allie, you sit right there, yes ma’am?  ‘Yes ma’am’ is all I need to hear.”

It caught me completely off-guard and made me laugh as I heard myself in Emory’s conversation with Allie.  I am guilty of telling our children “Yes, ma’am is all I need to hear,” apparently on numerous occasions.  Overhearing the phrase being used by my daughter on her baby made me aware that she is definitely paying attention to her surroundings.

Perhaps I should sit back and observe more often.  I may be able to learn a thing or two about mothering skills from my three year old.

Julie Swink works in Brand Management and Promotions for Texas Health Resources and is a Mom of two.