Multitasking Momma: Runnin’ Around With Sue

I think one of Amelia’s favorite toys is at least 100 years old.

But, no, it’s not because it’s a rare antique. It’s because my daughter’s favorite activity is playing “Sue’s Birthday Party.” Her doll Sue celebrates her birthday at least five times a week.

Making invitations. Assembling the cupcakes in her play kitchen. Getting her “guests” seated at the tea party table. Finding something random from the items in her toy box and wrapping it in a blanket so Sue has a present. It’s quite the ordeal, let me tell you. She really loves this baby doll.

Amelia gave her name a couple of years ago when she received her as a gift from Grammy and Grampy. I don’t know where the name came from, but she was able to pronounce it at the time.

Sue has clothes and shoes – Amelia loves to change her outfits – and her very own stroller and highchair. She rides on the back of my daughter’s bike in a little seat. That doll gets around: she’ll be at or , the , area restaurants and even a bridal shower last weekend (although I’ll draw the line at next month). 

Sue has just about the messiest hair you’ve ever seen. Parts of her hair stick out every which way, but other parts are matted down. All the hairbrushes in all the world can’t fix Sue’s ‘do. It’s probably hereditary: when Momma was a tot, I had a doll I carried around by the hair so much that her hair stood up straight.

Sue is most certainly my daughter’s favorite “playing” toy, but she’s not her favorite “sleeping” toy. She has several of those, all of which are much fluffier. But Sue is not neglected come bedtime. She gets tucked into her pint-sized doll bed, appropriately sent into dolly-dreamland with her own blanket, pillow and stuffed toy. Soon after, Amelia climbs into her own bed. We read a story and say her prayers. She clutches a snuggly, cuddly toy and drifts into dreamland, probably dreaming of all the adventures she and Sue will take together.