Breastfeeding Baby Dolls

We already have dolls that pee, poop, cry, and eat from a spoon but apparently, that’s not enough reality for our children. Newly available in the U.S. is the breastfeeding baby doll. Activated by a special halter top with strategically placed flower appliques, the doll begins to suckle when it is brought close to the chest (although, I suppose it would try to suckle your head if you stuck the halter top on it).

Opinion is divided on whether a breastfeeding baby doll is a good idea, bad idea, or just kind of dumb. Proponents of the doll like its educational component, believing that it demonstrates a healthier way to feed babies and also demystifies a perfectly normal bodily function. The point has been made that most baby dolls are packaged with bottles, which makes bottle feeding the de facto norm. Opponents of the Breastfeeding Baby are concerned that this is yet another instance of pushing children to grow up too fast. Some claim that it also has sexual connotations and might encourage early pregnancy.

There certainly is room for debate about this product. Apart from the specific merits (or lack thereof), I have the same problem I always have with these one-trick ponies: they’re imagination killers. Having a doll that does nothing opens the way for it to do everything. Introducing a gimmick tends to define the entire play experience. I have visions of a little girl standing in front of a shelf full of dolls trying to decide whether she’s going to play poop, pee, or suckle. Seems to me the whole idea of a baby doll is to stimulate nurturing, exploration, bonding, creativity. Difficult to bond with a sack of excrement. And while the whole suckling thing is likely to get boring pretty quickly, you can’t do much else with the doll because it just cries when it’s not being tended (fed or burped). I’m definitely in the Breastfeeding = Good camp, but I’m not sure this $90 toy is worth buying for a message that can be taught by example and by (gasp) communication with your child at the appropriate time.

And what about boys? Are they to be left out of the whole experiential opportunity? Or are we a few short months from a toy that encourages exploration of other natural functions? Oh please, oh please, don’t let my brain go down that road.

On a Related Topic…

Breastfeeding Baby reminded me of  a doll I saw in a toy store in the early 1990s. It had “bones” inside and was very heavy. The idea of a baby doll with bones really amused me, for some reason. So when I was reading about the breastfeeding doll I also did a little research on the bone doll. Called Baby Feels So Real,  it was made by Tyco. I found a whole discussion about the doll among people who wanted to reconnect with their childhood favorite. Apparently, BFSR (Baby Feels So Real) underwent several iterations. The bone model that I remembered was a later, more refined product that even had a soft spot in its head (eww). Prior to that, the doll was filled with gel to obtain the heaviness but had no interior structure. According to comments in that thread, the gel design was somewhat flawed. I quote from a couple (you can read the full thread):

I don’t remember my doll having a soft spot or a plastic frame inside — she was just all gel and really heavy, so if you flung her at someone, it totally hurt.

♦♦♦

When I was growing up I had a baby feel so real in the early eighties. She had short blonde hair and was filled with gel. I remember I left her out in the sun and she popped!!!

♦♦♦

Nope… no skeleton. On a winter trip to Grandma’s, she ended up riding in the trunk (thanks, Dad)…. so not only did I cry for 2 hours, but when he finally pulled over & got the doll- she had *GASP* frozen solid & was squished & deformed….. I was horrified!!!!

Sound to me as though BFSR may have provided concrete starting points for a lot of adult psychological therapy.

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead. Why Am I Upset?

On Sunday, when I heard the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed — and that our country had accomplished this long-sought goal, I was glad. The death of one who was responsible for such instilling such fear, perpetrating such horror, causing such grief — how can one not be relieved that he no longer exists? Although, really, he does still exist. Perhaps not his body — but his ideas and momentum and the trail of evil. Those legacies remain.

But this isn’t really about Bin Laden. After hours of having the news running in the background (after all, this is what I did on 9-11 —  turned on the news and immersed myself in the minutiae of the moment — seeking meaning and understanding), I finally switched off the sound and went back to my various projects. The television remained set to the news station, however.

As I worked, I would look up, to see if anything new seemed to be happening. What pelted me from the mute screen were bold headlines that said, basically:

He’s DEAD! We GOT the Sucka. Killed Him. Really Dead. At last, at last, we slaughtered him. Yay!He should rot in HELL. Burn in HELLFIRE. ROT, ROT, ROT. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.

Uh, probably gonna be scary around here for a while. Look under your pillows. Amp up your fear. Gonna get worse before it gets better. Never know when the quiet little man on the corner is going to blow himself up right in front of you. But never mind:

He’s DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. We KILLED him. He’s Gonna BURN (except that he’s kind of waterlogged at the moment).

I’m glad the monster is dead. But I’m finding the violent emotion and the slavering delight a little hard to take. Because every time I look up, words of hate push at me from the television and from the newspapers. It’s kind of like expecting to step out to a cool, refreshing rain shower and getting acid rain.

After 9-11, there was an incredible outpouring of love and support. People were kind to each other. They helped. We grieved as a nation and the world also grieved. People united in tragedy and we grew stronger and took comfort from each other. We chose to fight the evil with good hearts and good deeds.

Now, I see vindictiveness (not that it isn’t justified) and gleeful gloating. I don’t recognize the faces today. I don’t feel united. I feel like I’m in Lord of the Flies.

Osama Bin Laden is dead and I’m glad.

I’m also really depressed.

Pesach. A Small Diatribe.

Seder means order.

Open the Haggadah, do what it says. Simple. Easy. The path is clear to see. Just follow it.

Lift the wine glass; say the prayer; drink.
Lift the wine glass; say the prayer. Don’t drink.
Lift the wine glass; say the prayer. Don’t drink.

Wait. Why do we drink once and then stop? What’s with all the raising the glass and putting it down? It’s confusing.

Four questions aren’t going to be sufficient. No dayenu.

On this night we are supposed to drink 4 cups of wine. So why the heck won’t they let us drink them?

And the hand washing. Wash the hands. But don’t say a prayer. And don’t let the women wash their hands — only the men. Are men inherently dirtier? Hmm… Difficult to know whether the quest for equality needs to embrace the equal dirt doctrine.

Wash the hands again. But wait. THIS TIME, say the prayer. What’s the deal? Were we too dirty to say prayers before?

Never mind. It’s time for the plagues — everyone’s favorite part. How many? Ten, right? Weeell… depends. Some people say each nuance of the plague counts as a separate instance. Could be 10. Could be 50. Could be 250. I think it’s all those angels dancing on the head of the pin. They keep making more plagues when we’re not looking.

Anyway, I vote we stick with 10 plagues; it will take too long to name 250. We might starve to death before the list is done, and that would be a plague on us. Even in the desert, the Children of Israel didn’t starve. They had manna. And speaking of manna, was it leavened or unleavened?

Actually, Pesach is a lot about the math.

•  Dip twice.
• Ask 4 questions.
• Read about 4 sons.
• Recite 10 plagues (or 50 or 250)
• Drink 4 glasses of wine.
• Three patriarchs.
• Four matriarchs.
• I’ve lost count of the rabbis.
• Sixteen candles. Oops. No. Wrong movie. I mean Ten Commandments. Or do I mean 20? Remember, Moses had to get them twice.

Everybody read this next part together.

Wait. I have a different Haggadah than you do. So what page are we on?

Mine doesn’t say the same thing.

Quit arguing. Everybody just read whatever you have. Maybe it will make sense to God.

Why is this night different from all other nights? Well, in this instance, it isn’t. We’re never all on the same page.

————

My Pesach lenses on Squidoo:

Free Passover Graphics
Funny Ten Plagues Gifts for Passover
Make a Passover Plague Ball

April 2011 Read-a-Thon Is Over!

After 24 straight hours of reading and blogging (see the Read-a-Thon tab for the full adventure), the April Read-a-Thon is past-tense, but the memories are very much present. Tired? Well, a little. But I was so euphoric to have made it through that I stayed up and read for another 3 hours! THEN I took a really long nap. Already looking forward to the October event, but that’s 6 months away, so there’s plenty of mischief to generate in the interim.

Spring 2011 Read-a-Thon

Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-Thon begins in a few more hours, so I’m getting ready.

My official start time is 8 am on April 9. Can’t wait to get started. I have a couple of books set aside to start on and will choose the other titles as I am ready for them. Aside from getting a decent amount of sleep before the  official start time, I just have a few housekeeping chores to get out of the way. I’ll be posting in the new Read-a-Thon section of Mood Swings, so click on that tab and follow along. See you in a few hours!

Wurst Case Scenario

Although this is NaNoWriMo month and that is supposed to be my primary focus (and, at times, it is…) I’m also working on my Squidoo lenses. Right now I’m in the middle of one on bacon. In the course of my research, I also came across related sausage links (sorry, unavoidable), and this picture of a briefcase outfitted to transport sausage. I present it here without further comment.

Oh, and I guess I’ll add this one. Apparently, a Russian firm is manufacturing its sausages in these designer casings.

Source of both pictures is Trendhunter.com.

NaNoWriMo Begins

Well, it’s November 2, 2010 and that means we’re already on Day 2 of NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a month-long commitment to crank out (or attempt to crank out) 50,000 words toward a novel. For me, this is very much an experiment. I’m reminded of the movie Field of Dreams, when James Earl Jones disappears into the cornfield, to discover what awaits him beyond the stalks. Well, I’ve set one foot in and hope to make the entire journey — emerging on November 30 with 50,000 (theoretically connected) words gathered in a way that no one else has gathered them.

So far, I’ve written just a thousand words, and they are on a subject that wasn’t even under consideration two days ago. My plan was to continue with the novel I started last year and, hopefully, to end up with a complete first draft. That’s still the plan, but I woke up yesterday with the remains of a dream in my head and so, for now, I guess I’ll explore a different part of the cornfield.

Made It! Read-a-Thon Complete

Well, I managed to stay awake for the entire 24 hours and was still reading at 8 am this morning — albeit very slooowly! I had fun and plan to do it again in April 2011. Anyone want to join me?

Read-a-Thon

Well, half the Read-a-Thon is done — fewer than 12 hours to go. I continue to participate in challenges but they really cut into the reading time. Spent 20 minutes trying to take a picture of  my cat with a pile of books. Indifferent results. To see the kinds of things one does during a read-a-thon, see my Read-a-Thon page, reachable from the links on the masthead.

24-Hour Read-a-Thon

In approximately 8 hours I’m going to start the 24-hour Read-a-Thon – my second time doing this. The first time was in April 2009 and that event is what moved me to begin this blog. I will be recording my activities in the Read-a-Thon section (it’s one of the categories under the masthead). Feel free to drop by and comment or cheerlead, as the spirit moves you. There will be challenges during the Read-a-Thon and I will participate in some of them. Meanwhile, I have a stack of books and a few hours in which to catch some sleep before diving in.