Meet Kirsten

My oh my did I have a great parenting moment the other night.  A couple of weeks ago, my parents dropped off a big Rubbermaid container of my old books (SO glad you saved them, Mom and Dad!).  In there were all of my American Girls books -- the original ones with the vintage sketches that actually say "Pleasant Company" on them.  Madelyn became immediately interested and started flipping through the books, asking all sorts of questions about who these girls were and what they were doing.  We began reading them that night, and she pretty much hasn't talked about anything since.  Imagine her reaction when she learned that there were dolls and all sorts of accessories that went along with them so you could actually play out all of the events in the books.  I told her that I had Kirsten when I was a little girl and that my sister had Molly and that we loved those dolls and used to play with them all the time.  (True.  We had to earn the $69 to buy the dolls ourselves, and while we were earning the money, we would kiss their catalog pictures every night before bed.  When they finally arrived in the mail in this perfectly huge box, I really thought that this would probably be the pinnacle of my whole life.  When I told my dad that story a few days ago, he laughed and stated that in some ways, it just might have been.)  

Thursday evening, my parents brought Kirsten and her world of belongings to our house.  We had to leave for her school program shortly thereafter, but when we returned, after her brother was down to sleep and no longer occupying her mama's attention, she asked if we could look through Kirsten's things together.  I sat down with her and began going through each of her outfits with their matching shawls, aprons, socks, boots, etc.  I showed her Kirsten's fish basket, her lunch box complete with a tiny sausage, apple, hunk of cheese, and loaf of bread, her tray of Christmas buns, and her birthday quilt.  We compared them to the book covers, and she was absolutely delighted that everything was exactly as it was described and depicted in the books.  She held Kirsten in her lap this entire time, and I had a total time-pausing, heart-exploding, out-of-body moment where I thought that I never would've imagined that someday, my own little girl would hold my favorite doll with as much tenderness and affection as I once held her.  I got a little joy-weepy and told her that I was so happy that she liked Kirsten and that I hoped she would get to know her and have as much fun with her as I did.  She looked up at me with wide, excited eyes and said "Yeah!  And I will keep her and someday my little girl can play with her too!"  It's so perfectly Hallmark Channel that it can only be true, right?!

Sigh.  So I've pretty much been playing with Kirsten nonstop for the last two days.  Errr, I mean, Madelyn has pretty much been playing with Kirsten nonstop for the last two days.  She changes her clothes about every two hours, pulls out her accessories and enacts various scenarios, and has had to take her along everywhere we've gone since Thursday night.  Just like I used to do.  And, word has it, just like my grand-daughter will do someday, too.