Introducing . . . William

Written 5/11/13:

No, we don't know the sex of the baby.  No, if it is a boy, it will not be named William.  This is William:

From 2013 May

William was Nicholas' "you're going to be a big brother" gift/practice doll.  Honestly, he's been so interested in playing with the dolls at school for so long that I had contemplated getting him a better babydoll for his birthday anyway, but decided to go with this association instead.  And after looking at the miserable collection of babydolls in the stores (seriously, what is going on?), I convinced Joe to go full-out Cabbage Patch.

Nicholas loves William! (By the way, after the "door" suggestion for a baby name, we gave Nicholas three choices for the doll's name and he chose William over Alex and one other one I can't remember.) And he apparently totally understands newborns.  According to Nicholas, William's diaper needs to be changed about every 5 minutes and he is constantly sticking his pacifier in because William is crying.  Sounds about right to me.  Oh, and he knew how to change William's diaper all by himself without any prompting. 

From 2013 May

When I asked where he had learned how to do that he said at school.  They really do go above and beyond at that school.  Learn to write your name, learn to count in Spanish, learn to change diapers . . .

I have no idea if this will actually help him with the adjustment or not, but I figure it can't hurt and it warms my heart to watch Nicholas care for William. 

Not that it is all tender.  Today I walked into the room and Nicholas proclaimed, "Look, William can stand on his head!"  At some point we will have to discuss what cannot be done with the real baby.

Overall, I am very satisfied and am glad we went the Cabbage Patch route.  My one complaint is that they've changed the diapers since I was a kid and they now mimic disposables. I don't object to that on its face--afterall, that is certainly the only type of diaper Nicholas has ever known.  The problem is that the tabs have already lost their stick . . . after 2 days.  So today I looked up patterns online for making cloth diapers for dolls and this evening I worked to adapt the pattern I found to his doll's size.  I think I've figured out a size/shape that will work and I have enough fabric scraps to do it, but I need to get some velcro and break out the actual sewing machine to finish it.  Maybe tomorrow.

I love this little boy and I love how much he is already taking to his new role.