Little Mama

Elena has slept with 2 babies in her bed since she was tiny. She has Mr. Frog, which Adaryll and I got her when she was about 5 months old. She has loved Mr. Frog ever since, and we have always referred to him as her official "lovey". Eventually she decided that she also wanted to sleep with a baby that was given to Elias when he turned one. (Thanks, Harris Fam!) This one is a soft, all-plush baby with a few short pieces of yarn for hair. This baby has been missing it's clothes for several years, so we used to refer to it as "naked baby". Elena renamed it "Other Baby" several months ago.
Then, when Elena was sick in January, she was given a ladybug baby doll. She immediately fell in love with it and insisted on sleeping with it, too. Eventually, she named the ladybug "Lasagna". So then there were 3 babies (and Elena) all together in her twin size bed. A few days ago, she started carrying around a baby doll that Adaryll's Aunt Sandra gave her almost a year ago. All of the sudden, she is obsessed with this baby (along with the other 3 still), and needs to have it with her or know where it is at all times. Including bedtime. Yesterday she told me this baby's name is "Macaroni" (pronounced Macky-Doh-Nee). At least we have a theme going, right? So, now there are 4 babies + Elena in the bed every night and nap.
She lines them all up across her pillow and tucks them in next to her. Which was fine when it was only Mr. Frog and Other Baby. But once we added Lasagna and Macaroni to the bedtime mix (that just sounds messy!), there was no room left for Elena on the pillow! So I did what any good Mommy would do: I found an old travel pillow with a soft, pink pillowcase and put it in her bed next to her regular pillow. Then I lined up the babies (really close together like sardines in a can) on that pillow, which left the regular pillow for Elena to have all to herself.
And, like any good Mommy would do, Elena proceeded to take all the babies, one by one, and lay them down comfortably across her pillow. And then she took the little travel pillow at the edge of the bed for herself. Oh, the sacrifices a mother makes! And how early we learn!
By the way, she decided to give names to 2 more babies (which she got for her 1st bday from my mom and grandma) this morning. Their new names are Spaghetti and Pizza. Girl loves her some carbs with tomato sauce! Or maybe she is confused about her heritage and thinks she is part Italian...