bumbelina

When I was a little girl, I got a Thumbelina doll for Christmas.  I can remember getting up at 4 a.m on Christmas morning that year, as we always did.  My mom made us go back to bed after we opened presents and Thumbelina lay next to me on my little twin bed that my mom got at an auction.  I can still remember how she smelled - that new doll smell that is so distinctive - a mixture of rubber, plastic and some petrochemicals, I suppose, but it was a "new" smell and one that brings back memories any time I catch a whiff of it.

Thumbelina - not mine but she looks exactly like this

I think I received her in the early 60's.  Thumbelina was one of the first very "lifelike" dolls and she had a big pink knob in her back.  Later after I became a pediatric nurse I called the knob a myelomeningocele because that's what it reminded me of.  A myelomeningocele is when part of a baby's spinal column and nerves, etc, remain outside the body at birth.  

Thumbelina  moved  when you turned the pink myelomeningocele like knob.  The doll on this link is a later version of mine, but you get the picture.  She actually made that "whirring" noise too.  I thought it was neat when I was just a kid and a mama wannabe, which is what all of the girls my age aspired to be as grown up ladies.   Later I thought the movements a little obscene - was she writhing in doll like ecstasy?  Or maybe she was having a seizure.  

Thumbelina was rejected by my children.  Kseniya didn't find her endearing and she (Thumbelina) was relegated to the basement on a bookcase, wearing kseniya's old baby clothes.  I changed her into a pair of Christmas PJs every year at Christmas and she became sort of a Christmas decoration.  Sometimes I would cover her up and give her an affectionate pat to let her know I hadn't forgotten her.   Both boys were rather frightened by her and I often found her face turned toward the wall when they were in the same room as she was.  Billy called her "bumbelina".   Somehow her pink knob/myelomeningocele disappeared - probably Dan, at a young age, removed it - his first hint that he would someday be a doctor - and maybe a neurosurgeon.   So she no longer whirred and writhed. 

When we moved into this house, Thumbelina came with us...she, after all was my age or a bit younger.  She lived on a chair in the corner of the office for many years - pretty much ignored.  But I could not give her away.

Jack seems to think Thumbelina is okay.  She has on Kseniya's dress from her first birthday

Desmond discovered Thumbelina when he and Scarlett were here in September.  At first it seemed like he would share his father's disdain for her.  But then he took her doll hands and put them on his cheek and kissed her.  He carried her around by the hair - and he would give her "un besito" when requested.  Finally she found acceptance.

Des, Scarlett and Thumbelina

When Des took a nap, sometimes I would lay down next to him and just stare at his perfect little self.  I was reminded of those Christmas mornings with my new dolls.  Des smells new - but not like petrochemicals.

is anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?