Best Doll Stroller Ever

Amelia loves her babies:

And, for the longest time, she has wanted this:

That's the Joovy Doll Caboose Tandem Stroller, the Rolls Royce of doll strollers. It's a miniaturized real stroller with plenty of storage space, room for two dolls, and an ample canopy to shield dolls from the sun. (According to Amelia, dolls need to be shielded from the sun. Otherwise, they'll burn. Duh). It's slightly bigger than an average doll stroller, which is nice, since Amelia is slightly taller than the average kid. She has to stoop to push her babies in her old doll stroller.

I have hesitated from buying this because, at $80, it's almost the cost of a real stroller. Even when Amelia was a baby, we didn't spring for the expensive strollers. We had a Graco travel system from Target and an auxiliary umbrella stroller from Wal-Mart. By the time Amelia turned four, they were both completely worn out from overuse. The Graco had travelled with us cross-country more times than I could count. It rolled like a demented shopping cart toward the end and, in its last few months, it refused to fold. I had to throw it into the back of the SUV fully extended and hope for the best with my rear visibility.

There's nothing wrong with buying a top-of-the-line stroller system. There were times when I wished we had done it. But it wasn't where our parenting dollars went, and something in me balked at spending $80 on a doll stroller. After all, Amelia's almost seven. I don't know how much longer she'll maintain the illusion that her dolls are real people who need real care. That phase lasted a long time with me, but she cycles in and out of fads quickly. Yesterday it was princesses. Today, it's ninjas. The days of the dolls might be numbered.

Then, we went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market last Sunday.

This is an official photo from the Flea Market website.
Yes, it's really that crowded.

I love the Rose Bowl Flea Market. It has three shopping areas. The first area forms the "outer circle" of the swap meet, and it's filled with new stuff - boutique clothes and pet supplies, mass-produced artwork, and gourmet beef jerky. Walking away from that area, you'll find antiques - grandfather clocks, high-end cowboy boots, Eames chairs, and vintage advertising. Both of these areas are nice for browsing, but they're nothing compared to the final, inner circle of the swap meet - an area known as the "white zone."

Pete calls this area the "used socks zone," and it's where you'll find anything and everything. It's like browsing through 100 garage sales at once, and there's always something interesting. Once, we saw a vendor hawking disposable underwear like he was an X-rated carnival barker. This week, we saw a jar of human teeth accompanied by a hand-lettered sign reading "I'll Buy And/Or Sell Any Teeth." ( Please forgive me, but I was too creeped out to ask to take a picture). There are ventriloquist dummies that look like they'll steal your soul, patches ripped off of old mechanic's uniforms, and piles and piles of chewed-up Happy Meal toys. And, this week, there was this:



Baby Not Included

That's a genuine Jeep stroller. It's big enough for a four-year-old, which means that it's big enough for at least two dolls. It has more storage than the average mom would ever need, a three-point harness system, a canopy with a sunroof, two cupholders, and an mp3 jack with two speakers. Amelia spotted it while I was sorting through vintage Atari T-shirts, and immediately settled Jacob inside and started fussing over him. By the time I'd turned around, she was ready to plead her case.

"I need this," she said. "Jacob needs this."

I shook my head. "That's a real stroller," I told her. "Wouldn't you rather have a doll stroller?"

Amelia pulled the stroller closer to her chest. "Jacob's a real baby," she said. "He doesn't want a doll stroller."

So, I spoke to the saleslady and pleaded my own case, asking her how low she'd go on the stroller. She quoted me $15. Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled out my wallet.

So, now, after four years of being without a stroller, we have another travel system in our entry. Sometimes, Amelia will walk Jacob through the neighborhood while I sit on our front porch, watching her. Sometimes, we'll go on walks together, and she'll push Jacob to Target or Kohl's, magnanimously offering to hold my purchases in the storage compartment. And, sometimes, she'll just plug my mp3 player into the stroller, and dance with her dolls in the living room.

I hope the baby doll phase lasts long enough to take plenty of pictures of my daughter playing with her babies in the Jeep stroller. I hope we'll go on lots of walks together before Jacob is relegated to a high shelf in her bedroom. As far as bargains go, this is possibly the best $15 I ever spent. Sometimes, it pays to look at everything at the flea market. And, sometimes, it pays to be open to the possibility that the best toys aren't really toys at all.

And, if you see a little girl pushing a huge Jeep stroller around the neighborhood, please stop and tell her how adorable her baby is. All moms love that.

Creating A Custom Baby Doll (Part Two)

I'm still working on Amelia's latest baby doll. Now that I've removed the factory paint from my doll, it's time to prepare her to take a pacifier. The first thing I did was make the opening of her head a bit larger with an X-Acto knife.

Once again, I took care not to cut into the plastic that won't eventually be covered by the doll's body. When I was done, the opening of her head looked like this:

As you can see, the opening is much larger now, and it'll be easier for me to get my fingers and paintbrushes inside.

The second thing I did was take my package of neodymium magnets, which are availabe at Hobby Lobby.

Make sure you're using either neodymium magnets or rare earth magnets, which are available at Radio Shack. The standard craft magnets won't be strong enough to hold the paci.

I took one of the magnets and put just a little bit of E6000 glue on it. A little goes a long way.

I glued the magnet inside the doll's head, right under the lips. The glue takes a little time to dry, so I put the other magnets on the outside of her lips to hold the first magnet in place while it dries.

Eventually, I'll glue another magnet on a standard pacifier, so the doll can "suck" her paci when it's placed on her mouth.

I think it goes without saying that you should only do this for a doll that will be given to an older child who's a bit past putting things in their  mouth.

The doll is hidden away again (she's going to be a surprise for Amelia), and is waiting to be painted. Painting is the fun part, and I'll cover it next.

Creating A Custom Baby Doll (Part One)

Amelia loves baby dolls. In fact, it's a bit of an obsession with her. Last summer, she decided she wanted a realistic-looking baby that could wear real baby clothes. Instead of buying one ready-made, I thought it would be a good summer project if we made a reborn baby doll together. It took a week of solid work, but the end result was worth it. Meet baby Jacob:

He's not perfect but he's real enough for my six-year-old "little mama" and, when she insisted on taking him to Disneyland two weeks ago, a few well-meaning park employees asked to check his height before letting him board the roller coasters.

There are a lot of great online tutorials that will walk you through making a reborn doll for an adult collector. I'm going to focus on making a custom doll that a child will love. This is a fun project because it allows your child to pick out the doll's hair, eye, and skin color. They can also choose how heavy the doll is (Amelia likes her dolls to weigh up to five or six pounds - as much as a real baby), and whether or not the doll will take a pacifier. The whole project costs about $60. It's not cheap, but it's still much less expensive than buying a boutique baby doll from a catalogue. And a reborn baby will take real baby clothes, which you can find at a yard sale or thrift shop. Here's what we used to make Jacob:

• A somewhat realistic-looking baby doll
• Acrylic paints in purple, lavender, and flesh tones
• Colored craft sand in purple (Optional)
• Oil paints in flesh tones (flesh tints and browns) and cadmium white.
• A cloth doll body, either purchased or handmade
• Acrylic doll eyes in the color of your choice
• A doll wig that will fit your doll
• Fiberfill stuffing
• Platic craft beads (Optional)
• E600 glue or another sturdy craft glue
• Neodymium or rare earth magnets (Optional - Available at Radio Shack or Hobby Lobby. DO NOT USE regular craft magnets)
• A standard pacifier (Optional)
• Paintbrushes
• Makeup sponges
• Cotton Balls
• Acetone (Available at beauty supply shops)
• Colorbox ink pads in rouge or pink tones
• An X-Acto knife
• Cable Ties or strong beading cord
• Soft scrap fabric
• Watercolor Pencil in the same color as your doll wig (Optional)
• False eyelashes (Optional)
• Tacky Glue (Optional)

Recently, Amelia has been hinting that she'd like baby Jacob to have a sister, so I'm making him a
twin. I started with a Berenguer Lots to Cuddle Baby that I found at Wal-Mart for about $20.

 

As you can see, she's a cute doll, but she doesn't have a lot of personality yet. The first thing I did after taking her out of the box was remove her head and limbs from her body. I did this by taking an X-Acto knife and very carefully cutting into the cable ties that were keeping her limbs attached:

 

I tried not to cut into the plastic, although it's okay if you do, providing that you cut into the part that's covered by the cloth body.

After you're done, you should have a creepy-looking collection of baby parts. This would be such a great Halloween display!

The next step is removing the factory paint from the doll. There's a bit of a debate online about whether you should use acetone or non-acetone nail polish remover. When we made baby Jacob, we tried the non-acetone remover and found that it didn't work very well. We really had to scrub to remove any paint. Pure acetone, available at beauty supply shops, worked much better. Just make sure to wear gloves if you wear nail polish or have acrylic nails, and don't work on top of a wood or painted surface.

A little acetone goes a long way, and a quick swipe with a cotton ball will remove all of the paint.

Here's what the doll's face looks like with all of her paint removed. I didn't remove the paint from the hair, because I'll eventually be covering that up with a wig.

After removing the paint, I gave the doll a "bath" in warm, soapy water and dried her thoroughly.

She's currently hiding away, awaitng the next step: getting a pacifier!