A Baby's First Doll

I think a baby girls first doll is one of those special things in life. A couple of weeks ago I went to an indoor garage sale (the best kind of sale in cold northern Minnesota) that had LOTS of baby things. My mom was sifting through a bin of toys that at one time used to be some other child's treasures and kept handing Adele different ones. She was indifferent to them all and just kept tossing them aside. Next thing, Adele climbs up to the bin and picks out this dirty, ugly, a little bit scary looking doll. She sits back down and starts talking to it uncontrollably and hugging it to pieces! Now she carries it around with her everywhere! This doll truly is priceless, as the garage sale lady gave it to us for free!

The other day I was thinking about Adele and how particular she is about certain things. She doesn't like to be naked, she only likes orange foods, she can't sit next to you she has to be one you, etc. But she always knows what she wants! Then I realized that with all of her particularness and determination, she picked ME to be her mother. She picks me to clothe her, to feed her orange foods, to let her sit on me. She picked me to teach her, and rock her, and comfort her. She picked me to take her to her first day of school, to wait up for her on her first date, to send her off to college. Now I know I am imperfect like her little garage sale doll, I may not always know what to do or how to take care of her, but it is comforting that she picked me! (and Travis too!)