I'm not one to jump on bandwagons. A decade ago you did not see my rushing out to buy a "Tickle Me Elmo." Cabbage Patch dolls were never my thing, either. But now that I'm the mother of young children, I do tend to keep my eyes open for the latest "hot" toys.
This Christmas my daughter wanted the "Amazing Amanda" doll, a doll that talks and poops and recognizes her "mommy's" voice. A quick price check at Target showed that the thing cost 90 dollars. Ouch!
At first I was angry. How dare Nick Jr. air ads for 90 dollar dolls? That's just plain rude. Most people can't afford such an expensive doll-- us included! When it was time to write a letter to Santa (actually an email), all my daughter kept asking for was "the Amanda doll." Nothing else? No, just the Amanda doll. So of course Santa had to bring it.
The doll arrived Christmas morning as scheduled, and my daughter was thrilled. Unfortunately, Amanda called for 3 "C" batteries. We only had one. My husband found some old batteries in a toy in the playroom, so we inserted them. My daughter gave Amanda'a hand a squeeze and the doll started talking. Then....ffffffftttzzzzzzzz. She sounded like she shorted out. Alas, it was just the batteries!
We bought new ones and then began the (tedious) process of "programming" Amanda to "understand" my daughter's voice. Talk about painful. It took forever and we kept making mistakes and had to start over. A few times Amanda said my daughter didn't sound like her mommy. My little girl was very sad when that happened.
Finally, we got everything programmed and we got to play with Amanda. My daughter was so dear, caring for and coddling her new doll. Feeding her, putting her on the potty, singing songs with her..... it was almost worth the 90 dollars! That was on the 26th. Amanda has been laying asleep on my daughter's bed since then. She doesn't want to wake her, she explains. Guess she realizes that playing with Amanda is a lot of work indeed.
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