The Little Mommy

Penelope is obsessed with all things baby doll right now.

When I pick her up from the church nursery she has gathered every doll in the room and put them all to "nigh-nigh." When I pick her up from school she has taken over the kitchen area and is in the middle of giving all the dolls a feast.

At home she's constantly pushing around her baby dolls in her stroller and pausing to give them a "baba nilk" (bottle of milk) or "appa juice." This morning she got down from her high chair after eating breakfast and promptly fixed her doll a bowl of "punk soup" (pumpkin soup) and fed it to her spoonful by spoonful, exclaiming "go-go" (here you go) and "yum!"

Every so often Penelope turns her doll over and inspects its bottom and declares "poop" to us, as if we should stop what we're doing and change the doll's diaper. She also tries to make the doll do whatever she is doing by moving their arms and legs. She makes them clap, dance, push buttons and play peek-a-boo with her, letting out a squeal of glee each time.

Last week I gave in and let Penelope take a baby doll to the grocery store. I held Penelope's hand and Penelope held the baby's hand while we walked across the parking lot. Then Penelope suddenly stopped and bent down with her doll and declared "ma baby walk." Pretty soon cars were lined up waiting while Penelope bent down and tried to make her doll's legs walk across the street. Thankfully the drivers were laughing at the sight instead of laying on their horns.

The sweetest thing Penelope does with her baby dolls is rock them to sleep. While swaying back and forth and holding her baby close to her chest, Penelope sings in the clearest voice (albeit a bit off tune), "rock-a-bye baby" over and over until they are asleep.