Amy: A Love Story
Amy was the first doll that Stella ever loved. Her time with our family was meant to be brief and functional, but she became an irreplaceable member. Here is her story...
When I was pregnant with Stella, we wanted to make sure that our two dogs would be prepared for our new addition. We read a lot about how to get them ready, and I decided to buy a doll to use as "practice" for the dogs having a baby in the house. I found a $4 knock-off Cabbage Patch doll at Wal-Mart that was about the right size and fit perfectly in the baby carrier I would be wearing Stella in. I would walk around the house, wearing the baby, talking to her and teaching the dogs not to jump on me while I had the baby. We taught the dogs not to go into the nursery and we talked to the baby while she was in the crib. Seriously, we went all out and it actually worked. The dogs were very good about obeying the new "baby" rules, and when Stella was born we packed the doll up in a box and stored it in the attic, mostly as an afterthought.
Fast forward to Stella being a little over a year old, and we were going through boxes of baby stuff and came across the doll. Stella grabbed her and hugged her, thrilled to have found a surprise baby. We asked her if her new baby had a name and she immediately said "Amy". Not sure where that name came from, but it stuck, and she has been Amy ever since. The two of them became inseparable and Amy went everywhere with Stella. Parties, sleepovers with Nana, family vacations. She couldn't/wouldn't sleep without her. At one point when Stella was about 3, she was sad that Amy didn't have any hair, so she put about 12 fake moustaches on her little bald, plastic head. (We had bought them as a silly dress up thing for the kids). But then she thought it made Amy look ugly, so we had to take them all off. Well let me tell you, cheap moustaches do NOT want to come off cheap plastic baby doll heads. We had a hot mess on our hands, because Amy had random strips of hairy glue all over her head. Stella was devastated and I was using every solvent I could find to strip that shit off. Acetone, Goo Be Gone, dish soap, Russell's garage soap, you name it. It took me about 2 hours and Stella would not sleep until Amy was ok. I will never forget that night and how concerned Stella was for her friend. It was maddeningly frustrating and sweet at the same time.
Amy has had any number of outfits over the years, but because she was a generic brand doll, normal doll clothes didn't fit her. Everything was too big, so she always looked like a ragamuffin. Eventually Stella just gave up and let Amy be "naked", which was also a little weird because her body was cloth, not hard plastic, so it just looked like she had a short sleeved dingy white jumpsuit on. Didn't matter, love is love, and Stella didn't care.
Here we are now, Stella is 12 years old, and she has decided that it is time to add Amy to her keepsake storage box. We have one for each child, a big Rubbermade storage bin that holds special items that they have outgrown but that we want to keep. Last night she put Amy on our bed and told us it was time. We said ok, and then when Stella went to bed I cried and cried and cried.
Today I had to take Stella to the doctor (strep throat, poor kid) and as she sat on the exam table in the same pediatrician's office that she's been going to since birth, it took all of my power not to cry again. I looked at her 5'2" frame, her big beautiful blue eyes, her cute Stella Style outfit, her size 9 women's shoes, and I could clearly see the chubby little baby that I used to hold in my lap in that office. It was just one of those moments that you feel in your soul, one of those moments when you see your child grow before your eyes. It was poignant.
Amy is sitting on my bedside table right now. I know Stella is ready to put her away, but I'm not quite there yet. I need a couple more days to say my goodbyes and reminisce with her.
When I was pregnant with Stella, we wanted to make sure that our two dogs would be prepared for our new addition. We read a lot about how to get them ready, and I decided to buy a doll to use as "practice" for the dogs having a baby in the house. I found a $4 knock-off Cabbage Patch doll at Wal-Mart that was about the right size and fit perfectly in the baby carrier I would be wearing Stella in. I would walk around the house, wearing the baby, talking to her and teaching the dogs not to jump on me while I had the baby. We taught the dogs not to go into the nursery and we talked to the baby while she was in the crib. Seriously, we went all out and it actually worked. The dogs were very good about obeying the new "baby" rules, and when Stella was born we packed the doll up in a box and stored it in the attic, mostly as an afterthought.
Fast forward to Stella being a little over a year old, and we were going through boxes of baby stuff and came across the doll. Stella grabbed her and hugged her, thrilled to have found a surprise baby. We asked her if her new baby had a name and she immediately said "Amy". Not sure where that name came from, but it stuck, and she has been Amy ever since. The two of them became inseparable and Amy went everywhere with Stella. Parties, sleepovers with Nana, family vacations. She couldn't/wouldn't sleep without her. At one point when Stella was about 3, she was sad that Amy didn't have any hair, so she put about 12 fake moustaches on her little bald, plastic head. (We had bought them as a silly dress up thing for the kids). But then she thought it made Amy look ugly, so we had to take them all off. Well let me tell you, cheap moustaches do NOT want to come off cheap plastic baby doll heads. We had a hot mess on our hands, because Amy had random strips of hairy glue all over her head. Stella was devastated and I was using every solvent I could find to strip that shit off. Acetone, Goo Be Gone, dish soap, Russell's garage soap, you name it. It took me about 2 hours and Stella would not sleep until Amy was ok. I will never forget that night and how concerned Stella was for her friend. It was maddeningly frustrating and sweet at the same time.
Amy has had any number of outfits over the years, but because she was a generic brand doll, normal doll clothes didn't fit her. Everything was too big, so she always looked like a ragamuffin. Eventually Stella just gave up and let Amy be "naked", which was also a little weird because her body was cloth, not hard plastic, so it just looked like she had a short sleeved dingy white jumpsuit on. Didn't matter, love is love, and Stella didn't care.
Here we are now, Stella is 12 years old, and she has decided that it is time to add Amy to her keepsake storage box. We have one for each child, a big Rubbermade storage bin that holds special items that they have outgrown but that we want to keep. Last night she put Amy on our bed and told us it was time. We said ok, and then when Stella went to bed I cried and cried and cried.
Today I had to take Stella to the doctor (strep throat, poor kid) and as she sat on the exam table in the same pediatrician's office that she's been going to since birth, it took all of my power not to cry again. I looked at her 5'2" frame, her big beautiful blue eyes, her cute Stella Style outfit, her size 9 women's shoes, and I could clearly see the chubby little baby that I used to hold in my lap in that office. It was just one of those moments that you feel in your soul, one of those moments when you see your child grow before your eyes. It was poignant.
Amy is sitting on my bedside table right now. I know Stella is ready to put her away, but I'm not quite there yet. I need a couple more days to say my goodbyes and reminisce with her.
Comments
Post a Comment