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Cabbage Patch Kids: a history of a well-loved doll

melissa — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 04:11:41 +0000

I started writing a long comment on Karen’s post about her Cabbage Patch Kid when I realized we’d both be better off if I wrote a post and linked to that in her comments instead.

Like many kids growing up in the mid-eighties, both my sister and I had Cabbage Patch Kid dolls. We got them for Christmas the year they were so popular in Canada – 1985 I think? My mother doesn’t remember any stampedes but remembers that they were hard to find. Mine was named Sylvia Estelle and Kyla’s was named Susan Zora. I remember both of us signing the adoption papers and my mother telling my sister that she wasn’t allowed to throw hers on the floor (apparently, she was a doll thrower).

We played with them a *lot*. My mom made clothes for them. My sister cut their hair (something I only discovered recently when I couldn’t get the ponytails fixed properly). I remember going to a Cabbage Patch Kid party where all the girls brought their dolls and we all played. Someone took a picture of at least ten dolls on the couch and while their faces essentially looked the same, each one of them was unique enough that you knew exactly whose doll was whose.

Before we got the “real” Cabbage Patch Kids, we were given homemade dolls made by one of our favourite aunts. They weren’t the same as the Cabbage Patch Kids, but they were pretty close. We loved those dollies too. They were loved hard because I remember mine getting holes in her face and some of her hair was falling off. My sister also put lipstick on my doll (“to see what it would look like”) so they were definitely one of a kind. What made them extra special was that my aunt made them look like us – Betty Lou had short brown hair like me and Lily was blonde like Kyla.

Fast forward to now. These dolls are still at my mom’s house, and the Cabbage Patch Kids have both been brought out for Flora to play with when she’s at Grandma’s. (I think the homemade dolls are a little fragile for a toddler.) Fun fact: when I was pregnant, my mother had me practice my swaddling on my Cabbage Patch Kid. Later in the evening, I realized I was still cradling my swaddled “baby” and jiggling her as if she was a real baby. Big laughs all around.

Flora playing mummy to her dolly

Flora adores these dolls and plays with them every time she visits Grandma’s house. Interestingly, she seems to have taken a bigger shine to Kyla’s doll and not mine – I think Susan Zora got better placement in the house.

When my mom heard that the 25th anniversary dolls were released, she was excited to buy one for Flora and gave it to her for her first birthday. I think they’re running out of names in the Cabbage Patch because her dolly is named “Fairy Artie”. I had to get my sister to repeat it when she told me on the phone before we actually saw the doll. She told me “Fairy as in ‘fairy godmother’ and Artie as in ‘Artie Ziff’”. My reponse: “Oh, so little Fartie then”. Again, big laughs all around. Little Fartie sits on Flora’s toy shelf as she seemed a little large for Flora’s hands. Writing this post made me realize that I should take Little Fartie down and let Flora play with her. She was a big hit and will be entering regular rotation.

Yup, that doll really is named Fairy Artie. The other kids in the Patch must have had a field day with her.

L-R: Ericka Alessandra, Fairy Artie

I think my mom likes these dollies as much as we do. When she saw the little preemie dolls that came out recently, she went and bought one of those for Flora as well. Ericka Alessandra is a little smaller than a regular Cabbage Patch Kid and is made completely out of plastic. Flora adores her and plays with her regularly. One of her favourite things to do with it is take off all of dolly’s clothes. Then I have to put them back on because she hasn’t gotten the hang of that part yet. (Kind of like Flora herself.) Sometimes I hear her talking to her dolly like I talk to her: “change your diaper”, “all clean”, “time to play”, “feed baby”. It shocked me just how early that kind of play starts, although it makes sense when I think about it.

I’ve always said I can’t wait for Flora to be old enough for Barbies so we could play together (I *loved* Barbies as a kid). I’ve enjoyed her Cabbage Patch Kid phase immensely though. I’m so thankful my mom had the foresight to save the Cabbage Patch Kids (and the clothes she made) so the next generation of our family could enjoy them.

Cabbage Patch Kids: a history of a well-loved doll © melissa price-mitchell, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.

Wordless Wednesday: Swimming

melissa — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:00:53 +0000

We spent this past Sunday at a cottage in Quebec with close friends. Flora got to check out the lake.

(Click pictures for larger images, see more on my Flickr stream)

Wordless Wednesday: Swimming © melissa price-mitchell, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.

All dressed up and everywhere to go

melissa — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:07:11 +0000

A few weeks ago, I bought a new dress to wear to a friend’s wedding that is happening this Friday. Flora saw the dress last night before it went to the washing machine and decided she had to try it on. I didn’t have a camera handy then, but I did have one tonight when I brought the dress up from the dryer.

(Click images for larger versions)

Once she spotted it tonight, she started saying “Pretty dress!” so I helped her put it on and she traipsed around the kitchen. While the skirt of the dress looked like a beautiful mermaid train, I’m pretty sure it did double duty as a floor mop. Hopefully I don’t have to wash it again before the wedding.

Then Flora decided she needed to finish beautifying herself:

She decided to do that by getting into my purse and stealing my lip balm. I don’t think she opened it.

Then, she decided enough was enough and wanted it off.

And finished her fashion show with a bag on her head.

I just hope I look as good in my dress as she does, or I’ll end up needed to borrow that bag to wear on my head.

All dressed up and everywhere to go © melissa price-mitchell, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.

Back Seat Driver

melissa — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:20:51 +0000

Flora and I were out and about yesterday. I needed to pick up my Maple Leaf prize pack from Emma (thanks again!), and since I met up with Emma in front of a grocery store, I decided to pick up a few things. (Full disclosure: I put the prize pack in the car, then went into the grocery store to do my shopping. I forgot that there were coupons in it – whatta bonehead!)

On the way there, I discovered that Flora is definitely listening to her father during their car rides together. On the way to the store, I was stopped at a light. The light must have taken its time to change, because I suddenly hear Flora say “MOOOVE!” in a surprisingly firm voice for a non-driving toddler. She sounded just like her father, who can get a little….impatient when he drives.

Fortunately, the light changed, and were able to continue on our trip without further incident or commentary from the peanut gallery in my back seat.

When the time comes for Flora to drive, I’m not sure which one of us should take her out. Sean and I have very different driving styles. It took me years of living here to get the courage up to drive in Toronto, and I still don’t do the 401 past the exit to our house when we’re traveling back from seeing the family in Prince Edward County. Sean on the other hand, was driving into the city (a two-and-a-half hour trip at the time) almost as soon as he could drive on his own and his mother would let him. (Buddy had concerts to see!) So needless to say, he’s a little braver than me, and does most of our driving when we are traveling as a family.

I think back to when I learned to drive. After a few bad outings with my mum where we both ended up crying thanks to nerves on both ends, we decided that she would not be my main experienced driver. So I went out with her friends and my soon-to-be-stepda and everyone’s nerves calmed down. I still drove with my mum, but not as much. It was a big moment for us when I was driving to the mall and she started cleaning out her purse.

Now my mum is just relieved that she doesn’t have to do all the city driving when she comes up to visit.

Being home on mat leave was what really got me driving in this city. It was either get brave and drive or be stuck at home. Yes, there’s public transit in Toronto and we used it too, but strollers in subways don’t always mix and doing errands is much easier with a car, especially with a young baby.

I can’t predict what kind of driver Flora will be at this age, but I do hope she takes the best habits from both of us, and we’ll do our best to teach her the rest (with the help of a capable driving instructor).

Back Seat Driver © melissa price-mitchell, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.

Wordless Wednesday: At the park

melissa — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:05:08 +0000

It was more fun than it looks in this picture. (Click picture for larger image.)

Wordless Wednesday: At the park © melissa price-mitchell, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.

Some sorely-needed perspective

melissa — Tue, 25 May 2010 01:40:31 +0000

Last week, I started keeping a gratitude journal. I haven’t been super consistent (only a couple entries in the last week), but the perspective I’ve gained by writing down the good things in my life has been illuminating.

The whole gratitude journal thing feels a little airy-fairy and like I’ve been watching too much Oprah or reading too many self-help books (I haven’t done either). However, taking the time to write down five things that went well during the day makes going to bed and actually falling asleep easier.

I started doing this because we had a rough week last week. Flora was sick on two different (non-consecutive) days and Sean and I each needed to take a day off to stay home with her. Struggling with the logistics of who’s staying home (all families with two work-outside-the-home parents have this issue right?) made me question the decisions we’ve made as a family to take care of our daughter. I’ve since gained some sorely-needed perspective and I’m feeling more confident that we’re doing the best we can for Flora by doing what we’re doing.

And I’m grateful for that too. Remind me to write that down before I go to bed tonight.

I’m also grateful (while the feeling is real, the word is feeling overused now) that the three of us had a great Victoria Day weekend together. We worked, we played, we hung out as a family. Here are some pictures.

(click the picture to view a larger version)

I really am a lucky woman to have such a great little family. And I don’t need Oprah or any self-help guru to tell me that.

Some sorely-needed perspective © melissa price-mitchell, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.

Video post: Goodnight Daddy

melissa — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 03:34:38 +0000

Sean is away tonight, and since I couldn’t catch him on the phone at Flora’s bedtime so they could say goodnight, I thought I’d shoot a little video and send it to him so he knew that his daughter was thinking of him. I ended up with some unexpected, lowbrow comedy.

The video quality is not-so-great, but I did shoot it with the camera on my iPhone in low light (it was bedtime after all). Sorry for the sniffling midway through – I’ve caught yet another cold.

If you get to the end of the video and can’t figure out what surprise was (it may be hard to hear), use your mouse to select the white text below this sentence.

After I tried one last time to get Flora to say “goodnight daddy” in one sentence, she looks up at me, farts, smiles and says “toot”. This kid announces her farts and everyone else’s every time she hears one. We laugh every time, but we probably shouldn’t. She’s going to give us away at the completely wrong time one of these days, and we’re going to be known as “The Fart Family” to everyone in a five-kilometer radius.

Goodnight Daddy from Melissa Price-Mitchell on Vimeo.

Flora says goodnight to Daddy (and tells him something else too). Shot with my iPhone right as she was going to bed, which explains the low light and general low-quality of the clip.

Turn your sound up for the surprise ending.

Picture Post: Easter Weekend 2010

melissa — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 02:46:41 +0000

We spent Easter visiting our famlies. The advantage of marrying your high school sweetheart is that it’s easy to visit both sides of the family during holidays. My parents and Sean’s mum live about 35 minutes apart, and since we all get along (our mums actually worked together when we were small), Sean’s mum usually comes down for family dinners.

The pictures really tell the story best though. The weather was perfect for taking colourful, vibrant pictures outside.

Flora and Sean’s mum check out the new abacus.

My stepdad makes my sister’s dogs sit for their treats (Leia and Flora are cropped out, but they’re sitting too.)

Say hello to the Easter Duck. My mother picked this costume up for next to nothing at a thrift shop. I’m hoping it makes it to Halloween. The tail is a little dinosaur-esque and it makes me giggle.

First go at my sister’s piano. We may have to invest someday.

That duck (stolen from the bathroom) got me soaked and taking it away caused a mini-meltdown.

Flora discovers that yardwork sucks, especially when your lawnmower only blows bubbles.

Flora is really starting to get attached to her dollies/babies. I can’t believe how early that starts.

Fun was had by all. It’s going to be a great spring!

Picture Post: Easter Weekend 2010 © melissa price-mitchell, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.

Whee!

melissa — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:56:49 +0000

Seeing Flora and Sean together like this makes me so happy. I’m truly grateful for the relationship they share. However, it’s hard not to be wistful sometimes as I watch their relationship grow and develop. My own father has been dead for nearly 19 years, and while he was alive until just before I became a teenager, I wish I could have known him as I continued through my teens. As I became an adult. As I became a parent.

I wish I could picture him as a grandfather, but I can’t.

I pray that Flora never has to go through that. I want all those things for her. I want all those things for Sean.

I want them to always be this happy together. I know it won’t always be smiles and giggles, but a long, loving relationship is something for them both to strive for.

(click for larger image)

Big smiles!

melissa — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:53:08 +0000

Flora’s haircut is starting to grow on me. I think it’s a combination of the little pigtail, the big grin or the unobstructed view of her eyes. No matter what it is, these pictures (and the evening we spent together to get them) make me happy.

(Click on each picture to view a larger version.)