New Addition

We have a new baby in our home:

During Spring Break, I took Noodlebug to get a haircut. He loves the children's hair salon we go to because they have great toys. As I was paying, I noticed he was very quiet over in the toy area. I went to get him and found him cuddling a baby doll.  I told him that it was time to go home and we needed to put the baby down in her bed. He was very distraught about leaving the baby. I thought about this a lot. On a day when he had been particularly good and we happened to be at Target, I took him to the baby doll section and told him he could pick any doll he wanted.  We looked at each one carefully and he picked the one you see above. It was even on sale. (whew!)  He made me open it as soon as we got in the car. 

For the first few days, he carried his baby everywhere we went.  People were surprisingly positive about it.  Only one dad asked me if I thought that was a good idea. I responded, "If my son wants to be a nurturer, I am going to support that in any way I can." It's a new world.  Men never used to be in the delivery room and now many of them are stay-at-home parents.  If I am ever lucky enough to be a grandmother, I want to raise a son who will be a loving nurturer to his family. And if I am lucky enough to ever have another child, this could be good preparation. It would be nice if someday we didn't designate toys as "girl" toys and "boy" toys.  And it would be nice if we gave men everywhere credit for being capable nurturers. We shouldn't pigeonhole anyone. Least of all children. 

These days, Baby sleeps with Noodlebug every night. He insists I make sure that she has her hat on and that I cover her up with the blanket.  I am disappointed that the baby only says "Mama."  Maybe soon we will start seeing dolls that say "Dada" as well.  In the meantime, Noodle is doing a great job taking care of Baby and I am proud to see him do it.