Babies!

Meg is obsessed with babies. Really. Her favorite thing to do is to scream out wherever we are to point out any babies in the room, even if said baby is actually older than her. In her mind, anyone smaller than her and/or under the age of three is a baby.

She has a series of toy dolls of various shapes and sizes that she carries with her practically everywhere. A few were gifts from my mom and a couple we stole from her babysitter's house. I am amazed how stereotypical it is -- Andy loved trains and she loves babies. Believe me, we tried to make her love Thomas as much. It sure would have been cheaper and easier since we already own the stuff. No, she loves her some babies. It really does make you think there is some genetic component at work here beyond the gender roles assigned by parents and friends.

I am leaving for a week for work today so I bought the kids toys as a parting gift. Andy selected some Hot Wheels parts and I got her a baby. Heavens, some of the choices out there -- babies that pee and poop (gross! I already have one that does that, why do I want a toy to do more of that?) and others that cry and make noise (again, I already have one of those) or crawl. I settled on a baby that can go in the bath and doesn't make noise. Hurrah! Also, since all her others are light-skinned, blue-eyed babies, I picked one that has dark hair and dark eyes, you know, for diversity's sake (note -- in the picture it links to the white version). Adorableness. The only downside is she wants to take her babies with her everywhere, which can get quite cumbersome. Now I need to find a bag for her to carry them all in. Perhaps I'll find one in Chicago.