american girl – BabyCostsMoney

Have you been to an American Girl store lately? They used to be very DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING WE EVEN PUT THE TOYS BEHIND GLASS HANDS OFF! But now they have a playhouse and all sorts of toys out for the children to touch and play with and beg their parents to buy for them. Well played, Mattel.

Babystar doesn’t beg for toys yet THANK GODDESS but I know she will someday. For now, she just plays and plays and plays and plays and plays and doesn’t want to leave the fun toys. Who can blame her? She recently spent almost an hour playing in the American Girl store at Tyson’s Corner Mall. Adorably, her older sister stayed and played with her while my son and I ran errands in the mall. The Teenager has like nine American Girl dolls (I’m guessing — she might have ninety) so she was pretty ok with checking out all of Bitty Baby’s new swag. Apparently, Babystar took care of two babies while we were gone, and changed their diapers and fed them each bottles (which she called coffee HAHAHAAHAHA) and found them a nightlight and sang them the ABCs and put them to bed and then went to make dinner in the playhouse.

The ToddlerMonster is a much more organized mother than I.

So of course after hearing this, I had to buy her something for her Bitty Babys at home. If you have ever been to an American Girl store, you also know that the toy baby items cost more than their real world counterparts. I can get a pair of baby pajamas at Carter’s for under ten bucks but pajamas are twenty four dollars for these fancy dolls. Bitty Baby’s high chair is $48. Babystar’s Ikea high chair cost less than half of that.

I bought a set of two baby bottles for $6.36 with tax. The white one is for milk and the red one is for coffee, according to Babystar. (My Contigo coffee cup is red so I guess that is where she is making this connection. I swear I don’t give the toddler coffee. But she doesn’t drink milk out of a bottle either so I guess she is just winging it. A-plus for creativity.)

She also rode the (RIP-OFF) mall train that day. It cost me $15 because she wanted both her brother and her sister to ride and the dude charged me for both of my adult children. Jerk. (I’m still a little bit bitter but look how cute and SMALL Babystar looks with her older sibs. And look how CUTE they all look in the tiny train car together LOL.)

RAISING BABYSTAR: $20,508.64

Granny and Grampy (the in-laws) were in town last weekend and they wanted to take Babystar shopping for things that she NEEDS. I anticipated this because I am excellent at seeing the future and because they do this every time (AND because they kept reminding me) so I thought Stride Rite seemed the perfect destination.

Babystar got new Mary Janes because her current favorite shoes are about to not fit anymore (and I have no idea where to buy them). And she also got some fuzzy-inside, comfy winter boots because it gets cold here in Northern Virginia. So that was wonderful and very helpful. And Babystar even got a few stickers. Luckily, Stride Rite made sure she knew which stickers were appropriate for a little girl via the tried-and-true color coding system. And luckily my baby don’t give a fuuuuck. You already know we came home with Star Wars AND Sesame Street WHAAAAAAAAAT.

Have you ever been to Tyson’s Corner Mall? If you live in or near Northern Virginia, the answer is probably yes. Do you know what store is right next door to Stride Rite? If you said the American Girl store, you win. Guess what you win? You get to give ME $100.

I have already gone on record about the American Girl store. But I’m not even mad. Here’s how it went down. Babystar raced into the red and pink wonderland so Grammy and I followed.

Babystar headed straight for the ‘babies’ like they were calling her name and singing her favorite songs and I’m not convinced that they weren’t. And of course the ‘babies’ are on REALLY LOW shelves, right? So here is Babystar manipulating Grammy into bringing a Bitty Baby home with us.

So effective, right? I almost want to buy her one and I DEFINITELY DO NOT want to buy her one.

Of course it worked. She even got an extra outfit because she said ‘kitty’ and pointed to an outfit with a cat on it. (Yes, she knows the word kitty and I am very proud but am I more proud of her vocabulary or her clear ability to control her world around her? I’m not sure yet.)

She immediately has to show Grampy who is waiting on the bench outside because he is smart. And she is smart.

And then be ALL CUTE about it. Jeez, ok, that little pose is worth $60, I guess. Suckers.

And here I imagine her thinking, mama, give me the camera. This is none of your business.

The lovely, thoughtful, well-meaning grandparents also bought her three pairs of maxaloones from etsy because I wanted her to have pants that will fit over her cloth diapers and hopefully last an entire season. I let Grammy pick (but I only showed her cute ones to choose from) and I’m excited for them to arrive in the mail!

RAISING BABYSTAR: $12,790.51

Tag: american girl

Bitty Baby Bottles and a CHOO CHOO.

When Grandma Comes to Town.