On dd's baby. Poor thing..some time ago she lost a finger. Today, it was nearly her wrist. She's been 'fixed' with a band-aid now. However, the poor little thing, yes, she has yet another issue. You see, she has a bag in her belly, that fills with air. Well, I think it has a puncture, as her belly was quite flat today. And I have 'fixed' that particular problem at least twice already. And no one has ever admitted to having anything to do with this issue, as in, purposefully relieving this 'pressure' I didn't want to perform an all out surgery today, to remove said bag to inspect for punctures. So, we'll see how she holds up. I'm afraid of the prognosis should she return to my ER tomorrow.

So, how do you deal with that? DD has other dolls, I don't think there's some big attachment to this one, though, it was her first doll ever. She is quite fond of it, but I don't think overly so. Just wondering..how might I handle this should baby not make it. Is it ok to just say 'ah, well, yeah, we can't fix her anymore, gotta trash it' ? I do believe a replacement part is available..should the bag indeed be punctured. But, I'm not sure of the cost and thereby, if it would be worth it. If it were a beloved toy, I could see more of this 'weighing things out..cost vs love for object' but, as I said, it's not that kind of thing. But, somehow, it just feels weird to think about saying "She's broken, go trash it" KWIM? Is that just me? Am I weird? LOL
Or do I just discretely take care of the issue while dd is asleep. Then if/when she asks, .... ???

Can ya tell I'm a bit out of my element here? All those boys..I never had to deal with such things. But now..a girl..an emotional nearly 3 yr old girl..Oh.My.Goodness!! A different realm, entirely!

I have two boys so haven't had to perform surgeries on dolls yet. One thing that we do with toys that are falling apart, breaking, etc. is to put them away out of sight for awhile and if they don't ask for it anytime in the next 1-3 months? then we quietly get rid of the item. If they do ask about it, I just say something about we don't have it anymore, it went away, etc.

Not sure if this helps any or not.

Janell

I would say, if you think about throwing it away, ask her if it's okay first. And if it's not, just shelve it somewhere. I'll never forget how my mother threw away my stuffed blue elephant without telling me. I had to ask her where it had gone, and when she told me she had trashed it I felt devastated. It didn't matter to me that it had gotten ratty; it was part of my "family" of stuffed animals and dolls and to my young mind, my mom had no right to throw it away.

So you're not being weird; girls have a thing for their animals and dolls that I don't think boys do.

That's precisely why I was asking and being careful here. It IS her first doll. And though she may not outwardly show an extreme fondness for it, it may still be there. And at nearly 3, she's old enough to be having those kinds of feelings and remembering that.

I think I'll take the 'put it away for a while' approach then go from there. As I just checked in on the patient and, well, her belly isn't doing too well ;) She's just all floppy. I don't guess that's such a problem, I mean, I suppose dd could still play with it. She's just not as cuddly anymore.
I'll see what dd thinks, then decide if baby shall be put away for a while.

At least she still has Lily and Cora..her CPK hehe though, she doesn't care much for Cora..can't blame her, that's one ugly CPK IMO LOL

Anywho...thanks ladies

My mom tried to trash our old ratty monkey, Zippy. It was dad's toy as a kid and we got it when we were old enough. This thing is ratty. He has had tattoos put on his face and ears, his clothes were lost long ago and his fur had been rubbed off from all the loving. Somehow, my sister and I had this homing device and everytime Zippy ended up in the morgue, we dragged him back out. My mom hated it. He is currently in her attic. My sister and I would cry and get hysterical everytime mom tried to discreetly dispose of his mangled body.

Maybe, you could have your daughter observe the abdominal operation that seems to be needed, and then have her help to decide what to do with the baby. That is the only thing I can think of. That way, she sees what is wrong and then can be a part of the solution. If you can't fix it, be honest. Tell her that is a possibilty from the start and outline options and what she may want to do before hand. That way, if the suggestion is to place her in the toy morgue, there will be less of a surprise on her.

Abby broke the leg off one of her dolls recently. I am not sure whether we can put the leg back on but I know I can't just get rid of it because she'll be so upset. And she's only 2 LOL Maybe I'll just bandage the leg and make the doll a permanent patient. She might end up wanting to be a nurse/doctor one day :D hehehe
Anyway, I hope you find a solution.
Abby has way too many soft toys. And I have given quite a few away already (much to Pauls horror - he is worse than she is LOL) but we still have a pink elephant that lost an arm and I tried to sew it back on but it just didn't work LOL And both Paul and Abby didn't want to let it go. So it became a "car toy" that was supposed to stay in the car. But she wanted to bring it inside so now it's back inside again :roll:
Did I mention that Paul brought like two boxes of soft toys with him when he moved in here? LOL I didn't even know a guy his age would even have soft toys or want them. :shock:
Every time I try to get rid of some he's like "no don't get rid of ......." and puts on a sad face :roll:
The only way I can get rid of anything around here is to do it secretly so they don't know about it. :(

This makes me think of something rather tramatic that happened to me when I was young. There was this "real baby" doll that was oh so soft and looked so pretty and I wanted one so badly. Well I got one for Christmas. I slept, ate, bathed, played and did everything else with this baby. One night I was sleeping with her and threw-up all over her...to my utmost dismay, her eyes were crossed the next morning. I cried and cried and cried some more :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: . I was tramatized!!! I remember going to school and crying all day!

My mom and grandmother came to pick me up after school and my dolly was all normal again! My mom and scrubbed and cleaned and washed that baby all day. I was so happy once again :D .

Then I had another baby that her head kept falling off. Mom would sew it right back on and then I would play with her for a while longer and off it would go again. I still have that doll and her head is just hanging by a thread now :lol: , but I treasure her.

Anyway my point is, just keep on repairing it...I know I'm a softy but that's just how I am :D .

Stephanie :D :D :D

My only advice is that I could never part with something that Gracie was so attached to. If it was okay with dd, I would just probably put it in her keepsake box and try to get her interested in a new toy.

When our dolls broke, they had to be taken to the Doll Hospital. This was a real place, I kid you not! :wink:

I wish we had a doll hospital here.

Anyway, I don't mind keeping dolls that break all the time but at the same time I want Abby and Sophie to not end up like Paul where he cannot part with anything when it is broken. He is an absolute hoarder and keeps things that are broken or that he doesn't even use/need anymore. He always says "I can fix that" but he never does KWIM? So we just have all this stuff lying around that is cluttering up our house. I just want a house like my mum and dad that's nice and tidy (within reason) and to be able to relax about having visitors over.

Tara,
is the bag plastic or vinyl? could you use thin clear plastic tape and patch the puncture?

or even go redneck on it (hehe, can you tell I"m from the south) and use duct tape? Hey, that stuff fixes EVERYTHING!!

hth

Kana

Then I had another baby that her head kept falling off. Mom would sew it right back on and then I would play with her for a while longer and off it would go again. I still have that doll and her head is just hanging by a thread now :lol: , but I treasure her.

Anyway my point is, just keep on repairing it...I know I'm a softy but that's just how I am :D .

Stephanie :D :D :D

I must be a "softy" too. I still have my teddy bear that my grandma gave me for my first b-day. His face is falling apart and his head is barely attached to his neck, but no way will I ever throw him out! :lol:

I can't get the bag OUT. I mean, it's supposed to come out (not easily mind you, but for such repairs as this), but the hole is really tight, I haven't been able to squeeze it out yet.
If I can manage to get it out, without destroying the rest of the body, I will most certainly look for the puncture and see if I can duct tape it (we're hillbilly too LOL)

a-ha! found her...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000302AI2/ref=nosim/drtoysguideonlin?dev-t=D2Y5TUCCVJ7DGE

I couldn't remember what she was called so I just started searching for everything LOL

Well... toys like that I usually "disappear" for a while, if she (my almost 3 year old) doesn't notice then I decide that it's ok to throw it out... my son who is almost four was crying yesterday for a toy that I threw out almost a year ago though... yesterday he remembered :cry: of course for him it was a train that was in a ton of pieces (cheap toy) but I'm still glad that I threw it out... maybe I'm a mean mommy :twisted: :D

OH I have thrown out numerous toys LOL My boys have gotten lots of 'junk' from relatives. Stuff that breaks immediately upon opening, or within a month thereafter. All that stuff gets tossed, period, no question about it.
But this doll..she has no dangerous parts to be left behind, so, I guess this just feels different hehehe


LOL ok completely off topic, but as I sit here typing, the tv is on, baby is in the floor..he was destroying a Lands End catalog or something of the sort..well, there's this funky light music playing on the tv, he starts rocking back and forth, wagging his little head, just groovin' to this music hehe too cute!
Oh shoot, now he's off to eat one of my tables again!!

OH I have thrown out numerous toys LOL My boys have gotten lots of 'junk' from relatives. Stuff that breaks immediately upon opening, or within a month thereafter. All that stuff gets tossed, period, no question about it.

Oh I so know what you mean! Like for Abbys 2nd birthday she got a supermarket trolley from her grandfather (Pauls dad) and it was for 3 years and up and it had little wheelnuts (I think that's what they're called) on the sides to keep the sides together. They kept falling off. Then Abby broke one of the sides of the trolley by standing on it. And I tried to fix it with superglue and tape but it just kept falling apart. So it got chucked. We ended up finding a much better stronger one that didn't have tiny parts either. She loves it.

aaaah yes...nothing beats the Little Tikes grocery cart here Imitations are worthless. Our Little Tikes has survived since dd's first year..with she AND her elder brothers climbing all over it. The boys use it like a scooter through the house :roll: Of course, I do not allow this, but, they have lapse of memory and it happens LOL ;)
Now to find the equivalent in a doll stroller. She has the little Graco one, it's still holding up, so I guess I ought not complain. I just don't see HOW it's still holding up. They abuse it at least as much as the cart. They have tried sitting the baby in it. Nevermind that it says 'not for use with infant' or whatever..and my boys CAN read AND I have told them not to do that. The baby just fit in there so nicely ;) hehe Oh and of course sister sits in it as well..yeah, her 35# self in that little DOLL stroller, geesh!

It's amazing how kids can destroy things eh? Even when it's NOT intentional, just the natural abuse toys go through during the life of a child. hehe

Tara, there is a wonderful fixerupper thick gel in a 6" x 2 " tube, called GOOP. They package it differently to make it look like it is only for a specific use, IE Automotive, Footware, Household,but we have found they are all the same thing even though they charge differently according to the area. General Household is usually the least expensive, 2-3 dollars . Anyway, if you put a little on any punctures, they will never lose air from those areas again. We've used it on fuzzy air mattreses where other patches just wouldn't work. Now we use it all over the house. Gee we should buy stock in the company! :D

We're sentimental and frugal, a bad combination! Our dd has her well-lived babies displayed in her room(18yo). Actually, everything she owns is displayed in her room! The last ones she received as gifts she talked to us about because she told us she felt too old to play with dolls and asked if she could give them away for someone else to use through Toys for Tots or some program. I'm waiting to see what happens to them when she is off to college and knows we need the room so her brothers no longer have to share a room...

You see, she has a bag in her belly, that fills with air. Well, I think it has a puncture, as her belly was quite flat today. And I have 'fixed' that particular problem at least twice already. And no one has ever admitted to having anything to do with this issue, as in, purposefully relieving this 'pressure' I didn't want to perform an all out surgery today, to remove said bag to inspect for punctures. So, we'll see how she holds up. I'm afraid of the prognosis should she return to my ER tomorrow.

But, somehow, it just feels weird to think about saying "She's broken, go trash it" KWIM? Is that just me? Am I weird? LOL
Or do I just discretely take care of the issue while dd is asleep. Then if/when she asks, .... ???

Can ya tell I'm a bit out of my element here? All those boys..I never had to deal with such things. But now..a girl..an emotional nearly 3 yr old girl..Oh.My.Goodness!! A different realm, entirely!

aaah nifty
to late for the doll though, the bag was already pitched...but I *do* have an air mattress around here with a hole...somewhere :roll: hehe Thanks, I'll have to check into that idea!

That's an idea! There are Doll Hospitals often associated with Doll Museums in NEBR, Minnesota and SD, probably other places, we've seen the news stories around Christmas time when people donate used toys for needy children. These Doll Hospitals donate their time and resources to fix the dolls for these organizations to give out "like new." We've never used them because we assumed it would require a large donation for private fixing, but it may be worth checking into.

When our dolls broke, they had to be taken to the Doll Hospital. This was a real place, I kid you not! :wink: