"Can I have it, please? It's my favorite!"

Grace and I had a lunch date with a friend today in a really nice area called Avondale- quaint street lined with boutique shops and restaurants near a neighborhood of grand, stately houses. We wandered into the shops and found this cute little toy store where Grace fell in love the dolls.

She is such a girly girl. And already knows how to beg. She asked if she could please have the doll/baby bottle because it's her favorite. Liezel helped me distract her long enough to lead her out of the store without my having to buy her anything.

But I was sorely tempted. If only that doll set didn't cost a whopping $75, it would've been hers. Darn these boutique stores and their boutique prices.

Then when we checked the mail today, there happened to be an American Girl catalog. I gave it to Grace thinking she'd have fun ripping it apart. I didn't think she had the attention span to actually peruse the catalog.

I was wrong. She looked at that thing as carefully as Mike looks at his car magazines. I'm sure if she knew how to dog-ear pages, she would have done so. I kept hearing exclamations of how cute and 'bootiful' the baby dolls were. Just watching her look through those pages with such longing made me want to jump online and order her a doll with all the accessories she kept oohing and ahhing over. If only they didn't cost so much. Darn American Girl and their absolutely adorable, but overpriced dolls!

Until Grace gets a little older and learns to take better care of her doll babies, Walmart ones will just have to do. I haven't picked up for the night and there are two baby dolls that are completely naked because their mama is currently obsessed with taking off and putting on clothes.