Baby E's babies

Baby E was 21 months old yesterday. She really doesn't seem like a baby any more. She says so many words and phrases, engages in imaginative play, has tea parties, desperately wants to read and write, and generally tries to do everything she sees anyone else do.

Baby E takes great care of her dollies. She'll get one and carry it around, calling it "Baby . . . my baby." She loves to feed them, read books to them, and rock them.

The cutest thing is watching her tuck one of her babies into bed. She'll take off hats and/or clothes, put a pillow in the toy crib, lay the doll carefully on the pillow, cover it tenderly with a blanket, and slowly pull the blanket up around the doll's neck and tuck it in.

She leans over the crib with a loving expression on her face, whispers "uhd-night, uv-oo" to the doll. Then she hugs and kisses it softly. After that she leans back slightly with one hand on her baby and one finger before her lips, saying "shhh . . . seep." Then she leans forward, adjusts the covers, stares into the doll's face and says, "uv-oo . . . shhhh . . . night," and kisses it again.

She'll sit there leaning over the doll's crib for a long time, just looking into its face the way a new parent watches an infant sleep. Every now and then she'll talk to it in soothing tones or hug and kiss her baby.

It melts my heart every time.