Girls love dolls, and trucks...

Does this little one look familiar??

I thought so! I was at Target with the family today. Kevin and I were looking for two specific toys for Dakota. We wanted to pick out a doll, as well as a some kind of car or truck. We're not big on gender specific toys, since we both believe it's very limiting to a child's imagination. Anyway, while Kevin was checking out all the cars, trucks, and other moving conveyances, I was making my way down the "PINK" aisle. I have to say, I was never especially girly myself, but I did play with cabbage patch kids. So of course, I was on the lookout for one. I stumbled across London Sierra, which is who is pictured above. When I saw her, I immediately flash-backed to when Dakota was just 4 weeks old. I remember thinking how much she resembled a Cabbage Patch Doll, with her big blue eyes and bald little head...

So anyway, I loaded the Cabbage Patch Newborn into our shopping cart so we could adopt the little bundle of joy. Just then Kevin walked up holding a large, shiny red firetruck. Dakota, on the other hand, was pointing and howling for an Elmo doll she spotted on a nearby shelf. I know, why don't we just stick with the toys that we know she loves?!

Once home, we tore into the two toys, which literally took 20 minutes to extract from their boxes. Toy packages seem to be laminated in tape, and the inner contents excessively webbed with twist ties. I usually go batty 1/2 way into the extraction process. During all of this, Dakota was waiting patiently. Ok, she was really standing by my feet, gathering all the bits and pieces of cardboard that once housed her new toys. Finally, we gave Dakota her baby doll and firetruck...

Dakota with her new baby doll

She looks thrilled!

And just as daddy suspected, Dakota abandoned her baby....

...for her firetruck

We won't be kicking poor little London Sierra to the curb anytime soon, because I know it's just a matter of time that Dakota will love her little doll just as she does baby Elmo...