Annabella

Annabella came into our home in May of 2009. She's eighteen inches tall with green eyes and brown hair. Annabella is Zoe's American Girl doll. She's a "Just Like Me" doll. That means Zoe picked out a doll that most closely resembles herself. Zoe was sprouting bangs at the time she picked out Annabella so we had to get the doll that had bangs versus a side part. The different styles of dolls that there are to choose from is vast...dark skin, light skin, freckles, red hair, coarse curly hair, hazel eyes, blue eyes, a doll from 1974 or from 1764...it seems to go on and on.

The American Girl store in Chicago goes on and on as well. There are two floors of dolls, books, clothing, shoes, hair accessories, pets for your doll, chairs, an RV, beds. Like I said, it goes on and on. I love it.

There is a restaurant that you must make a reservation to eat at. The doll gets her own little seat that attaches to the table and her own tiny cup and dinner plate. Zoe and I have had lunch there and it was actually very nice. We need to get Chad in there to eat sometime. He poo poos the store, he says it freaks him out. Food always changes his perspective of things.

You pay a lot for an American Girl doll. It's a bit absurd. We HAD to get Annabella's ears pierced and that just adds up the total at the cash register. Her hair becomes a mess in between visits to the store (Gigi's favorite mode of transport for Annabella is the head and hair grab), so we usually pick out a style from the list of fifteen or so hairstyles and wait our turn at the hair salon and hand over more money.

Zoe really loves her doll. Zoe has been wearing her boot/cast on her foot for almost 4 weeks and Annabella is a comfort to her since she too has a cast on her leg. The Feel-Better Kit we bought for Annabella a while back has certainly come in handy.

It can seem ridiculous to those that don't have little girls that we would be willing to pay the outlandish prices for this doll and all of her stuff. But when Zoe, who can be very shy, is pushing her doll in her little stroller down Michigan Ave or at the zoo and complete strangers ask her her doll's name and she answers in a proud manner "her name's Annabella", it becomes money well spent.