Observer Online | Viewpoints

Posted Oct. 5, 2007

Living in a House of Dolls

My wife, Katie, got the chance to relive a little bit of her childhood this week on the fifth birthday of our daughter, Audrey. Being all-girl, Audrey is interested in dolls, playing house, dress-up, princesses and anything pink or purple. For her birthday, we dragged out of storage the dollhouse my wife had played with during her own childhood, and presented it as a gift.

But first, everything had to be just right. Katie dusted the dollhouse inside and out, and then sat down with a big box of all the stuff she had collected as a child to fill the house up.

The house itself is gorgeous. Three stories, with a balcony and a porch, a few windows and two doors on the front. The back is open providing access to eight rooms and the stairs.

It's amazing the details you can get for a dollhouse. Katie put a credenza in the front hallway, and topped it with a tiny flower vase and a telephone. In the living room, the mother, father and two children sat in chairs and a sofa, around a coffee table in front of a fireplace with photos on the mantle.

Katie had planned to have a bunk bed for the two doll children, but she wasn't able to find a bed that would work. But Audrey dove right into playing and talked about it all day long.

And if there was any doubt that the daughter at age 5 is already like her mother, it ended in the car on the way to school. After only playing with the dollhouse for half an hour or so before having to leave for kindergarten, Audrey turned to her mother and noted that the two doll children had no bed in which to sleep.

The two of them worked out a compromise until a suitable bed can be found.