I always imagined myself with a house of tall, strapping young lads… having a girl didn’t really come into my head until our little one was put into my arms; it never really bothered me whether we would have boys or girls, and I feel really blessed to have both. And for the past couple of years, I have been observing with interest the difference between the two- how they play, specifically (completely differently in many ways)…
A case in point has been Lolle the doll: A long time before our little girl came to us, I bought us, our family of boys, a doll (a really, really beautiful one)
(I had made them several, but once I saw this doll, I could not resist. I love dolls)
She is a Kathe Kruse doll, with beautiful hair, and big enough to wear small baby clothes. The boys loved her.
Brought her on hikes, dangled her from trees. When I casually mentioned did they want to brush her hair or put new clothes on, they looked at me as if I were mad. (At one stage, I plaited her hair and had her sitting on the sofa in the morning when they came down. They looked at her and then asked why her hair was all knotted up at the sides!!!)
And so over time, Lolle the doll sat at the back of the cupboard as Lego and computers took over. Until last week, when in the middle of tidying, I found Lolle and her bag of clothes and boots and some newborn nappies. I was in the middle of sorting when Grace came out, wide-eyed with Lolle in her arms.
“Mama! I found a little girl!!!”
I told her the story and how she was waiting for Grace to be big enough to play with her. It was love at first sight.
She dressed her, undressed her, changed her nappy, did her hair. The boys watched in bemeusement as she danced, dressed and played with her “new friend”…
Days later and Lolle is still in the middle of games and put to bed at night. Her hair is tied up, she gets a change of clothes (at least) twenty times a day.
The boys have included her in their games…: she has fought off Lego warlords and monster monkeys, and hairy dogs who thinks she is a pillow. And in the background her new “mama” is readying beds and prams, finding hairclips and new sets of clothes…
My husband and I often comment on how different boys and girls are. Our girl made a flower…our boy with the same materials made a flower bomb (to destroy all flowers of course.)
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i love that you had 3 boys before you had a girl and now we’ve done the same. i can’t wait to find out the gender of this baby. it’s so true in the way they play w/things. love that you have a little girl who can dress, feed, and take care of lolle the dolly now.