Baby dolls

Passed it to whoever was sitting next to them

One child took the doll out of the basket, said “ah, ah,” and held it in against them.

Then lifted it across to the child sitting next to them.

That child took it, and looked up.

An adult held a doll the same way, and the second child copied — arms right round it.

Then a bottle, pressed against the doll's face, over and over.

The first child was on their feet by then, holding on to the bed. The doll went onto their back, and they stayed standing, balanced.

With a hand to hold: one step, and another, all the way across the room.

Help me

The diaper was one of the soft ones, with different textures on it. It got felt all over, and rubbed with a fingertip.

“It's soft.”

“Shall we change the baby's diaper?”

The doll went down flat. “It's done a poo.”

Then getting the diaper on. Alone, for a while.

“Help me.”

And the two of them did it together.

Looking for the loo roll

There were blocks with a wee and a poo drawn on them. They picked them up one at a time and looked at them, then stacked them, then laid them out in a row, and when the stack went over they built it again.

And the doll went to the toilet.

They carried it across the way they had seen it done, sat it down, and made the sound.

Afterwards there was wiping — and then looking around for the loo roll.

Rolling it round a hand first

The next day the loo roll was out, next to the doll and the potty.

They knew it came afterwards.

They wound some round a hand first, and then wiped the doll with it.

There was a song about it as well, and they came in on the parping noise, and squatted down to match.

My baby is this one

One child put a toy stethoscope into the pouch of a baby sling.

“Carry this on my back, please.”

Asked how, that child pushed their tummy out to show. “It's the baby's toy. Do it like this.”

So the sling went round the front, and an adult tied it at the back.

Then, sitting on the mat with a doll in one hand and a bottle of milk in the other, the stethoscope came out again and got waved in front of the doll. Then the doll went down flat and had its milk.

Somebody else came over with one block and a sling of their own.

“My baby is this one. Do mine as well, please.”

And once it was tied on: “Come on, let's go and play”

On my back, on my front

One child brought a doll over. “Tie it on my back, please.”

Another one saw that. “I want to play like that too.”

“Go and get your baby, then!”

That one came back with a doll. “Tie mine on the front, please.”

And they patted their babies — one facing out, one facing in.

There were only two dolls in the room. The others watched.

The baby likes a gun

While the others were putting medicine on the doll and feeding it, one child stayed out of all that and built a robot out of blocks instead.

“What if you made the baby a toy, out of your blocks?”

“All right.”

“What sort of toy would the baby like?”

“A gun.”

“Make the baby a gun, then.”

A small one came back, held up to be looked at.

“Show the baby.”

That child put it down on the floor next to the others.

“I made a gun.”

The others set it beside the doll — and then they all wanted one.

“I need one too.”

So two more came, exactly the same as the first, handed over one at a time.

Says it doesn't hurt

The doll came out and got held, and then a syringe, held against its arm. A serious face for that.

“Where does the baby hurt?”

A look down at the doll. “Don't know.”

Then a bottle of medicine, up to the doll's mouth.

“Will you check whether it's the tummy?”

Two fingers, tapping the doll's tummy, having a look.

“Says it doesn't hurt.”

“The head, then?”

“Not the head either.” And stroked it.

Down the slide together

One child was climbing the slide in the ball pool, looking back for a hand.

Then stopped, with the doll held tight in both arms, looking up at the slide.

“The baby wants to go down too.”

So down they went, doll and all, with a hand steadying them.

At the bottom, that child looked the doll over and stroked its face, slowly.

Another child was in tears — the doll was too strange to be anywhere near. So it went somewhere else for a while, and there were balls instead.

Not the patting — the feeding

An adult picked the doll up and held it. “Shall we pat the baby?”

A shake of the head, and a hand waved away.

“Shall we give the baby something to eat, then?”

A bowl and a spoon came out, and that child took the spoon up straight away. “Ah! Ah!”

An adult sat the doll on their lap. “I'm hungry. Can I have some food?”

Bowl in one hand, spoon in the other, and the spoon went to the doll's mouth. “Ahh. Ahh.”

And then the spoon went round the inside of the bowl, gathering up what was left.