Yes, my son likes dolls

As a little girl, I played with trucks, got dirty, and on and on. So why is so hard for me to accept that my little boy likes to play with a doll? I've reaad all the positive takes on this...that it helps him learn to be a nurturer, teaches him empathy, yada, yada, yada. But still, there's some part of me that just wants to yell "BOYS DON'T PLAY WITH DOLLS" to little Z. But I suppose that would be a bit extreme and it'd probably just scare him anyway.

See, most of the dolls at church are naked. Over the years, children have stripped them down and somehow their clothes have been permanently separated from their bodies in the chaos that is preschool. We were in the Goodwill store the other night after our most recent trip to Asuka Japanese Steakhouse (Oh how I love Japanese food, but I digress). So I see a nice CLOTHED doll, brand new and its' only 50 cents! So heck yeah, I grabbed it up for the preschool rooms at church, along with a few other toys that still have tons of life in them for all these rambunctious 2 and 3-year-olds. Z played with it a little when we got home, calling it his baby, putting it to bed, etc. At least it's a boy doll..or that's what I told him since it's bald with a blue outfit on. I kept reminding him that we would take that baby to his room at church and he seemed to understand that, however; I now know that he did not understand that we would actually leave the baby there.

We took it this morning and let Z carry it to his room. When I went to get him after church, he was holding the baby. The teachers said he had cared for it all during the class time...putting it to bed, telling other kids to be quiet because his baby was sleeping, but also throwing it up really high in the air hmmmm. To be brief, we still have the doll; Z would not leave it at church...oh joy!