WHAT?? There's a BARBIE getting action in OUR house??

Yesterday Lilah came home from nursery school and I asked her what she did.

"Played with my friend Lachlin", was her reply.

"What did you play?", I asked.

"Well, Lachlin played with the Barbies and I played with Dora", said Lilah.

It was an interesting conversation on two levels. First, Naomi and Lilah profoundly state the fact that they DO NOT LIKE DORA. Secondly, we have a handful of dolls collecting dust around here (some that I painstakingly sought out before we adopted, back when I imagined playing dolls with my daughters).

In fact, each time we went to China, I purchased several Chinese Barbies to put away for later. I was just thinking the other day that they were a colossal waste of money since the girls would rather play with Dinosaurs and Pet Shops than anything else.

However, this conversation intrigued me since I've always wondered when Lilah would begin to stand up to her sister's ideals and hedge out her own interests. Perhaps now was the time to plant a seed. So I asked . . . "Why didn't you play with the Barbies too?"

"Well how do you play with a Barbie?".

I don't know - how the heck do you play with a rigid doll that is difficult to dress and has no electronic features?

So this afternoon after 5 years, I broke open the Chinese Barbie box, unwound the million pieces of wire, unsewed the hair from the cardboard and plucked the accessories from underneath a mountain of tape to pass it over to Lilah. Who immediately took the doll and to my amazement started playing with her!

Naomi of course was watching from the sidelines (a little miffed that she wasn't getting a suprise). She saw the Barbie's shawl and commented, "What kind of cape is that, it doesn't even have a "W" on it!" (for those not in the know, the "W" referred to the "WonderPets" attire -- her favorite animals-rescuing-animals-themed TV show these days).

So . . . if you have any "playing with Barbie" activities other than brushing her tremendously long hair -- feel free to forward them to me. Apparently Lilah has broken out!

P.S. The Barbie is now hidden, "so that Myles won't play with it because you know how much he loves the doll stroller." (says Lilah). And that he does!