Friend

Here is the story of "friend". A funny, or not so funny story, depending on how you look at it.

Ally has a friend who has a collection of dolls that look like real babies. Her mom orders kits and then puts them together and I think she has about three or four of them. They are heavier than actual dolls, they have real hair, eyelashes, etc. They dress them in real baby clothes, shoes, everything. They have real pacifiers, bottles, diapers. They look really, real! Anyway, this is where the story begins.

Ally called me from her friends house one day and asked if she could bring one of the dolls home to "babysit" for a week. I told her that I didn't think it was a good idea, we have little kids in the house, something could happen and I wouldn't want it to get ruined. She begged and begged. Her friend and her friends mom said it was ok and they really wanted to let her borrow it for a while.

So I gave in. Ally came home with a cute little girl doll that looks quite a bit like a real baby. It had a car seat and a whole diaper bag full of baby clothes and stuff. Ally thought it was great. The only problem was, there was another person who loved that doll a little to much....Bayley. She wanted to play with that doll CONSTANTLY. She would not leave it alone. The doll became known as "fend"(friend) that week. I am not sure exactly why Bayley started calling her that (the name that her friend had for it was Breanna) other than the fact that she knew it belonged to Ally's friend. Ally would put it up on the highest shelf while she was at school and Bayley would find it and cry and cry for "fend"until someone would get it down and let her hold it. She would try and carry it around, up and down the stairs and get really frustrated, cuz it is pretty heavy for her to carry. It was starting to get a bit annoying.

By Saturday, I told Ally we were taking the doll back that day. I was sick of it. So she called her friend and she was out of town. She asked her to bring it the next day. Well, of course, Saturday night, I walk into Ally's room looking for Bayley and there she is with a permanent marker in one hand and "friend" in the other. There was marker all over the dolls face, hands, feet, and all over Bayley's clothes, hands, legs, feet. I about died. Why couldn't they have been home that morning?!

We tried everything we could think of to wash the marker off. I searched the internet to find ideas when I ran out, but the face was made from rubber so it just absorbed the marker. They don't call it permanent for nothing.

We finally decided we were going to have to call Ally's friend and her mom and tell them what happened. When we did they were really nice and understanding about it. It turned out that this particular doll wasn't as expensive as some of the others, thank goodness. She just told us we could keep the doll. I ended up going and paying her for it anyway.

So, needless to say, Friend is part of the family now. Bayley still loves that doll and even though it is actually Ally's, Bayley plays with it far more. The first thing she asks when she wakes up in the morning is "where fend"? She begs to take Friend wherever we go.

So that's my story. It wasn't so funny at the time, but now that I think about it, it is kind of funny. It is hilarious to watch Bayley and Friend. I think she really is Bayley's best friend.


You can see some of the marker on the face. There is a lot more on the other side. It has faded a bit on the fore head where we were really scrubbing the day we tried to get it out.