The Babydoll Incident

My husband & I were invited to a birthday party for our next door neighbor's 2 year old daughter.  She is the most precious little thing ever and we have become good friends with our neighbors so naturally we made the short trek across the lawn to attend.  It was the morning events that are what proved most interesting:  that search for the perfect gift, for a perfect little girl.

Child-free means we have no clue what to get a 2 year old.  I mentioned this in regards to my nephew's 7th birthday party over the summer, as well.  For tots, I always go the safe route and buy clothes (**Spoiler Alert**- If you have a tot, he or she is getting clothes from me as a gift).   This time, however, I wanted to think outside the box and buy a present other than clothing so Lloyd and I left for the toy store and sought the perfect gift. 

I almost immediately settled on a baby-doll.  They were adorable and I wanted to buy one alongside a play stroller or babydoll carseat.  My husband was very hesitant, which surprised me.  Generally he agrees with what I want to get.  Normally a man of few words, he finally confessed his frustration with all the toys in the girls' aisle with "everything here pre-conditions girls to think all they can do is have babies, cook and clean."

Shocking.  Where did that come from???  I found it humorous and sweet that he was standing up for women's (and little women's) equal opportunities everywhere.  As we neared the middle of the aisle I eyed plastic food and pots and pans, perhaps partially in tribute to one of my own favorite pastimes as a young girl (I had an awesome kitchen set, ironically, which never prepared me for a real-life love of cooking).  And just beyond that was an adorable Disney Princess broom and dust-pan set. 

"You see?" He said. 

And he was absolutely right.  He did, however, make my job incredibly difficult.  So we headed down the gray, black and brown aisle of boy's toys where we spotted violent action-figures, monsters and contraptions that I did not understand.  I also found the soccer balls in the boy's section, which was, for lack of a better descriptive word, interesting as well.

I agree there might be some truth to the whole genetically wired thing, but it was delightfully odd that my husband pointed out what I have always had trouble with.  Why don't we have babydolls for boys?  Why isn't there a cooking set designed just for boys?  Who decided pink was the deafult color for everything female?  How come my Barbie dolls never came equipped with an MK-47 or assault rifle?  I don't recall seeing a Transfomers vacuum cleaner in the boys aisle.  I mean... what the heck?  As a child I loved playing with my brothers Mathbox cars as much as my own kitchen set. 

Needless to say we reverted to clothing.  I was slightly irritated that I hadn't gotten my way since we spent a great portion of our morning window shopping.   All irritation went out the window when we got to the party and sat down to eat at a table in the garage.  There, pushed into a sad corner, was a pink baby-doll stroller, with one equally pink-clothed babydoll.  I felt like an ass wondering what she would do with another doll and stroller, had I gone ahead with my initial 'instinct'.

Later, we watched her open gifts, a number of them were... TADA.... babydolls.  Octo-mom in training.

So it took my boo to save the day in what was a shocking twist to the babydoll dilemma.  What a life-saver he proved to be.  His instinct on a 2 year-old toddler-girl gift was more accurate than my own.