Call me Gramma

With three daughters, this post is something that surprises me greatly and will probably surprise many of you, as well.  I am just now becoming a Gramma.  Alayna and Lilly never really had a desire for children when they were younger, but Mikayla already has 3--their names are Toni and Brianna (they are twins but about 20 yrs apart and one with blue, one with green eyes) and their baby brother Chip.  Yes, Mikayla is the only one of our girls to really get into playing with dolls.

It probably started about a year ago at my parents' house.  The girls were there overnight and Mikayla needed a toy to snuggle.  Mom brought out my old Cabbage Patch Doll, Toni Roni Macaroni, and it was love.  Since that day, Toni has gone along on several day trips, outings, overnights and playdates, and she's even received birthday and Christmas presents.  Then this fall, Mikayla found a Cabbage Patch Doll that Alayna had received as a toddler that was identical to Toni, but with blue eyes and about 20 yrs newer.  She was buried on the top shelf of Alayna's closet and forgotten (I told you, she and Lilly never got into dolls for more than occasional play)  Well, Brianna soon became Toni's twin sister and together, they went everywhere.  Even more recently, Mikayla has become attached to another Cabbage Patch Doll, this one an itty bitty baby, whom she calls Chip after the little boy/cup in Beauty and the Beast.

The imaginative play she enacts with these dolls is adorable!  I must watch them every now and then so that she can go to work, or on a date with her husband.  Sometimes they just want Gramma, too, and cry for me even when Mommy Mikayla is right there.  And the other day, Mikayla came to me just exhausted and sad because the girls were throwing up all over their clothes and blankets, and she had to tell me she just couldn't make it to my wedding with Daddy.  Then I heard them "puking" while Mikayla shushed and rocked them, telling them they were okay but asking them to please stop puking so she could wash laundry.  She's a pretty good Momma.

Brianna, Mikayla, Chip and Toni

(Mikayla said her husband was at work, so he couldn't get in the picture)