I've never been one to believe the nature vs. nurture argument - wherein babies are thought to already possess personality traits (including gender differences) at birth. I'm definitely more of a nurture vs. nature girl - wherein babies pick up personality traits through interaction with others and their environment post birth. However, Lucy is making me wonder if nature doesn't have something to do with who she is/who she will become. Before she was born, but after we knew she was going to be a girl, we received a few soft "My First Baby" dolls. They're all pink, but vary in color shade, texture, inner rattle, size and adorableness of the face. We hadn't made an effort to encourage her to play with these dolls, but rather they've just been laying around along with all of the hand-me-down toys we have left from the baby Benjamin years. These other toys aren't necessarily boy toys, but they're more gender non-specific than the baby dolls. Recently, Lucy has been playing with the dolls more than anything else. She cuddles them, kisses them and drags them around the house while trying to crawl with just one free hand. We really noticed her attachment to these "babies" when she refused to sleep at nap time this weekend because her baby was laying on the floor. She stood in her crib and cried and cried. When I gave her the doll (after finally realizing why she wasn't sleeping), she went right to sleep with no fuss. After she had slept for a couple hours, Mike went in to wake her up and she was sleeping on her stomach, clutching the doll. It was adorable.
Here you can see her playing and crawling all while bringing her baby along -
