A new baby (doll)

I bought a baby doll at a yard sale today. We only had one dolly left from when Mary was small, and to be honest it wasn't the cutest. When I saw a little bald brown baby in a box of stuffed animals, I fell in love. Just 25 cents later she was mine.

(The old and the new. Sorry, Gerber Baby. I've had enough of your blank stare.)

I named her Nykia, after a foster child we had. (It was refreshing to have girls--sisters--after having boys exclusively for a year. Little Nykia reminded me of Po from the Teletubbies.)

So anyway, like I said I named the dolly Nykia. Except Cameron, who has taken a shine to her, calls her IKEA.

He also wanted to take her "watch" off, which is really a hospital bracelet.

I watched him hold her gently and carry her as carefully as he could. I asked, "Are you going to be a good daddy some day?"

He looked pleased and said, "Yeah."

Then suddenly his face changed like he'd remembered something important. "I'm not going to grow up to be a daddy. I'm going to be a Ninja!" he reminded me.

No amount of explaining that one could grow up to be both a Ninja AND a father could change his mind.

But "IKEA," with her little plastic "watch" and a Ninja hopeful for a pseudo-dad seems to be perfectly content with the arrangement.