How My 5 Year Old Reacted to Her First Easter Basket (& a Winner!)

Happy Good Friday! I'm coming in late to share a little story and the winner of my Chuck E. Cheese's giveaway...

Nia watches our doorstep like a hawk waiting for packages and yesterday when we received an unexpected box in the mail I let it sit in my office until Nia got home from school. She eagerly watched as I opened it and was surprised to see it was an Easter basket. Thing is, I had never given Nia an Easter basket before, but she clearly knew what it was!

Celebrating Milestones with Madame Alexander's BabbleBaby and Life of the Party Doll

Disclosure: I'm part of the Madame Alexander Mommy Advisor team and was provided samples for review purposes; all opinions expressed are my own. 

We're entering Nia's 3rd year of school and if there's one thing that's remained the same it's her love for dolls. Today we were at her Kindergarten orientation and before we left we reminisced over some of her preschool memories and they centered around playing with her old buddies in the housekeeping area including a few disputes over the beloved dolls. When we arrived in her classroom the first place she went was to the housekeeping area where the dolls were nestled in high cheers. She smiled so big and said, "We had this area at my old school!"

I think she'll settle in just fine when she starts Kindergarten next week.

Madame Alexander's Newborn Nursery BabbleBaby has been a part of our household since this past winter (I shared on Instagram when it arrived) and while Grayson's much bigger now, it did give us a kick how life-like it was:

At 3.5 pounds and 19" long, BabbleBabies retail at $119.95 and are great for ages 3+ and come in a variety of shades, eye colors and hair colors. The best part? It even acts like a real baby with over 80 real baby sound combinations: Nia's doll chuckles, sighs, grunts, cries, growls, giggles and squeals. Here's a cute video of Nia with her BabbleBaby:

Of course Nia had her live baby brother, but it was still good practice for her to mirror me taking care of Grayson. She got to be a little mommy too! I was very impressed with the range of sounds BabbleBaby had and how responsive it is (and yes, I admit it made me jump a few times thinking it was Grayson babbling!)

This summer we received the Life of the Party Doll (MSRP $59.95) just in time for the plethora of birthday parties that were on our agenda all summer including our own. To say Nia was excited to receive her doll was an understatement:

All summer long Nia would announce it was her birthday and stage her own celebration with her Life of the Party Doll (MSRP $44.95). At 18" it's a sturdy, high quality doll and Nia enjoys dressing her up in her fancy outfit as well as wearing her own party dress to celebrate alongside her doll. As a special bonus the doll arrived with the It's a Party Doll Play Set just in time for Kindergarten since the alphabet banner helps us with spelling! The set also comes with little plates, cups and forks. I really appreciate how Madame Alexander pays attention to little details. 

Nia was able to set up her own banner and pre-sliced cake serving it to her guests in her little tent. Grayson really wanted to join the party too!

If you want to throw an impromptu party this set is a lot of fun and makes for plenty of opportunities for your little one to use her imagination. 

Thank you Madame Alexander for giving us hours of play!

To learn more about Madame Alexander please visit their website and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well. 

How do your children play with dolls? Are they more into pretending to take care of their baby dolls like BabbleBaby or do they integrate them into peer play like the Life of the Party Doll? I really enjoy seeing how Nia plays with her dolls!


   

Yep, I Love Madame Alexander's Sweet Lovies Very Berry Ballerina Doll

Disclosure: I am a member of Madame Alexander's Mommy Advisory Board and received a doll for review purposes; all opinions expressed are my own.

A doll lover at heart, I've enjoyed being a part of Madame Alexander's Mommy Advisory Board. Growing up I took such good care of my dolls spending hours brushing their hair, dressing them and playing pretend. Lately, despite not wanting to continue with dance classes, Nia is obsessed with dance. We don't watch much TV, but love watching dance programs together which Nia recreates for her "audience." When we received the Sweet Lovies Very Berry Ballerina Doll I knew Nia would be thrilled, but I didn't anticipate I would be too. 

I like that the doll is soft, dressed simply and cuddly, but most importantly that she's washable! Nia plays hard with her toys and begs to take her dolls out and about with us, but especially being in the city I don't want them to get dirty. At $19.95 and washable the Sweet Lovies Very Berry Ballerina Doll is an affordable doll that I can feel confident allowing Nia to take out and about with us. When she gets dirty I can just wipe her off and let her dry!

The Sweet Lovies Very Berry Ballerina Doll is a welcome addition to our collection. Nia's already integrated her into duets with Angelina and perhaps I can convince her to give ballet lessons another try soon!

To learn more visit Madame Alexander and be sure to follow on Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram for the latest doll innovation.

It's Here!: The Legends of Oz Doll Collection by Madame Alexander

Disclosure: I'm a member of Madame Alexander's Mommy Advisory Board and received the Legends of Oz doll collection for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own.

Friends, I have to admit I've been holding out on you: around the time Gray was born we received the full collection of Madame Alexander's Legends of Oz dolls. Nia saw it as another surprise tied to the arrival of her brother and they were warmly welcomed into the doll "fold." One night when I got a break from Gray's cluster feeding, we set up the dolls and turned on Mr. Lovebird's favorite movie for a fun family night:

According to Nia pants are optional when watching movies O_o

The Legends of Oz doll collection includes the characters we know and love (Dorothy, Glinda, Tin Man, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion) as well as China Princess all from the animated feature Legends of Oz which premiered in May of this year (you can watch the trailer here). While Nia loves setting up the dolls in pretend scenarios, I'm more taken by the little details that Madame Alexander is known for - the high quality materials, tight stitching that's build to last and the whimsy facial features which invoke fun.

The preschool age is prime-time for pretend play and the Legends of Oz doll collection is perfect for that! She loves re-creating scenes from the movie as well as incorporating them with her existing dolls. It's so funny to watch some of the scenarios she comes up with!

I have to admit when discussing the Legends of Oz collection with Nia she remarked how she missed Toto as well as questioned where the Wicked Witch was. I wanted to know what happened to Dorothy's red ruby slippers, but I guess we need to watch Legends of Oz to find out. It'll be another fun movie night for us I'm sure!

I especially liked the straw coming out of Scarecrow - little details like that are so special!

A great way to build a collection for your child, each doll retails for $15 and can be purchased at MadameAlexander.com.

Be sure to follow Madame Alexander on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest doll innovations!
 

Giveaway Alert: Celebrate National Dance Week with Madame Alexander and Angelina Ballerina

Disclosure: I'm a member of the Madame Alexander 's Mom Advisory Board. I received a promotional item in support of this campaign and all opinions expressed are my own.

One of Nia's favorite shows is Angelina Ballerina - when it's on she's completely captivated! From a young age she's been quite the dancer (remember this choreography she did with her dad?), and we even signed her up for spring dance lessons.

We were super excited when a special surprise arrived in the mail from our friends at Madame Alexander . . .

Nia was thrilled to receive her Angelina Ballerina and took her along with us to our family-moon in Vermont last week:

To celebrate National Dance Week starting today through May 4th you can enter to win an Angelina Ballerina gift set from Madame Alexander's Facebook contest:

Be sure to enter daily and if you want a head start for your little dancer use code DANCE to get 20% off your entire purchase on Madame Alexander's website.  
  

A New "Favorite Friend" From Madame Alexander

Disclosure: As part of Madame Alexander's Mom Advisory Board I received a doll for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own. 

We've fully entered doll obsession in our household and while I was at Toy Fair 2014 I had the pleasure of meeting with Madame Alexander, a heritage doll company that I had heard so much about over the years - I was surprised to learn there was even a doll factory in my old neighborhood in Harlem many years ago! I had inherited a collectible doll growing up that I was terrified of breaking and had the same perception of Madame Alexander, but was pleasantly surprised to learn about their everyday play dolls. 

As part of their Mom Advisory Board I'll be reviewing dolls throughout the year and sharing other Madame Alexander news with you. To kick-off this partnership I selected the Favorite Friend Autumn Mist 18" doll for my Lil Lovebird.

{Image Credit: Madame Alexander}

At 18" this is the tallest doll that Nia's had and also the first that's not dressed in baby clothes. Nia picked up on this immediately and wouldn't allow me to call her a baby doll. Instead she named her "Tessa" and declared her her sister.

Excuse me! 

I love seeing how Nia plays with Tessa. It's very important to dress and re-dress her and while I can't share a picture of it here, part of her bedtime ritual includes making sure all of Tessa shares Nia's non choice of clothing. 

As a mom here's what I like most about Nia's Favorite Friend Tessa:

• Appearance - the doll is dressed modestly, yet stylish; too often many doll choices are a bit too grown up for little girls.  

• High quality - the attention to detail in the clothing (the skirt's even lined!), body and hair assures me that the doll will last

• Easy to play with - when I first opened the box to see Tessa I was concerned she'd be too delicate, but with a soft body, she's definitely huggable, can be posed to sit easily yet is sturdy; Nia likes playing pretend with her as well as carrying her to school (although she begs to keep her there I take her back home with me!)

Nia and I are pleased to have Madame Alexander as part of her doll collection and with care I look forward to Nia having many years of play with "Tessa!"

To purchase your own Favorite Friends doll (retails for $59.95) visit Madame Alexander's website to see the full selection. 

Did you have collectible dolls growing up? Please share your memories below!