On Barbies

The girls have recently taken an interest in changing the clothes on their barbies. What this actually means, of course, is that all I hear all day is, "could you please take this off," and "could you put this on, I can't." Somehow if I am in the middle of doing dishes I look like I am open and waiting to dress barbies. Any refusal on my part is met with heartbroken wails. I do, however, enjoy participating in Barbie fashion (to an extent), so I try to be as obliging as possible. The girls are encouraged to try it themselves first (B. is more willing to try than A.). All this clothes swapping has led to several Barbie related discoveries on my part.

1) Not all Barbies are the same size. We seem to have 3 sizes. There are the small 'Mariposa' Barbies who swims in all their clothes; there are medium 'normal' size ones- these ones fit in all the clothes; and there are large size ones that seems to be larger through the hips and upper torso (it's not a cup size thing...more of a 34 vs 36 size thing). None of the barbies are visibly different in size (except maybe 'Mariposa') so I didn't discover it until I was trying to cram size Large Barbie into some extra tight gold pants.

2) All but one of the Barbies seem to have some weird flesh eating disease. They are all missing toes and fingers and have deformities all over their hands and feet. One is also missing her nose. The only one whose feet seem to have escaped is the Nutcracker Barbie who wears panty hose. A. informed me that she couldn't bite through the hose because it would be yucky in her mouth.

3) Barbies are good for more than play acting and fashion. Yesterday A. holds up a naked Barbie that was positioned on her tummy with her legs and head as far back as they would go. I was a bit horrified, actually, but I asked why Barbie was doing that and she replied, "cause she's a boat." Of course she is. Later A. was making the same Barbie be the letter "A" and the letter "P".

4)Barbies have to be nakey to swim. Perhaps I should invest in some swim suits for them.

Baby J. has not really taken much of an interest in Barbies other than to bang stuff in and on their house.


We celebrated Baby J's birthday this last weekend. She definitely preferred the ice cream to the cupcake and frosting, but she did enjoy smearing the cupcake all over everything. She got a push/ride on toy, and we're hoping that it will encourage forward steps instead of sideways ones :) She also got her new car seat and seems to enjoy being able to see out. I wish they would have had nice car seats like hers back when we bought her sisters'! It's all pretty and soft and leans back a bit so her head doesn't flop forward when she sleeps. Along with her first birthday came her first molars, and she continues to be miserable today - I'm not sure which teeth are trying to come out. She has 8 in front now (4 on top and bottom) and two back molars. I'm guessing the top molars are starting because she's acting similarly to how she did when the back ones started pushing up.

Oh and one more little thing...last night at supper A. put a corn kernel on her front tooth...I had to laugh even though she was being naughty and not eating her supper. Such a fine line between keeping a sense of humor and enforcing the rules....