Pippa sat on the windowsill in the workroom with Bear and looked out at the sky. The other dolls had told her to wait there until they called her.
What an exciting year she had had! Of course, it was the first year she had ever had, but it was still very exciting! First, they (finally) let her out of her box. It seemed like she had been in there forEVER!
She found out right away that she was like the others in some ways, though, like the way those two fingers on her right hand are permanently stuck together. (Why did the human people who made her––made all of them––make them like that?)
Still, she felt very different from the others even though she and her sister Mandy have the same face and her hair is like Jolena's and Charlotte's.
Pippa had arrived with only the clothes she was wearing and her bear, whose name is...Bear. She needed clothes she could change into. First they let her wear some of their clothes with the cuffs turned up, so she wouldn't trip and fall.
She found out that her sister Veronika knew how to sew. Better yet, Veronika knew exactly how much smaller each of her pattern pieces needed to be to fit Pippa. After measuring Pippa, Veronika used something called math and said that she was 80% of the size of the others everywhere on her body. (Pippa thought math must be some kind of magic, but now she is learning how to do it in school.)
Veronika printed her patterns at 80% and then added back a bit to something she called the seam allowance, so the seams would be their original size. (The seams go on the inside of the finished clothes.) Then she compared the pattern pieces to Pippa's measurements to make sure they would work. She had explained it all to Pippa.
One of the new patterns was to make Pippa a dress that fit her exactly. Pippa got to pick out the fabric. She picked some fabric that had a tiny amount of pink in it, to go with her shoes. Veronika pinned the pattern pieces to the fabric, cut exactly around each pattern piece and then sewed the pieces together in the right way. It was Pippa's very first dress!
It was a little more difficult for Mandy to knit her a sweater, however. Knitting is made up of something called stitches that go in something called rows. You can't just print the pattern at 80%. She had to use math to figure out how many stitches and how many rows would make the sweater the right size, but to do that, she had to know how many stitches and rows would be in each inch of finished knitting. (She went by the same kind of sweater she had made before with the same yarn and needles.)
It made Pippa's head spin to think about all the math that Mandy had to use! It took Mandy a lot longer to knit a sweater for Pippa than for Veronika to sew a dress. Knitting takes longer, because you start out with something called yarn and you have to make the fabric from scratch.
They bought some things for Pippa, but there weren't too many things to buy for dolls like Pippa. Some of the things they bought for her were made for dolls who were as tall as she was, but were skinny. They didn't fit quite right. The dolls made them work for her by not overlapping the clingy tape all the way in the back.
They still looked a bit too small. Veronika said she could move the clingy tape by picking out the sewing stitches that held it on and then sewing it back on. That gave Pippa a little more breathing room. Bit by bit, Pippa acquired skirts, leggings, blouses, dresses, sweaters, shirts, socks, tights, underwear and shoes.
Doll school had already started when Pippa arrived, so she had a lot of catching up to do. She learned that Mariah was always ready to help her when she had questions about her school work.
She learned that her brother Emil was different from other dolls too, but not in the same way as she was. He explained to her that he couldn't see much or hear at all without his special glasses. He showed her how his special alarm clock has a part that goes under the mattress to shake it when it's time to get up, because his special glasses have to charge overnight. He can't hear or see all night long when he's sleeping.
Pippa found out that Emil has a friend named Holly who lives a long way away. They met in the doll hospital before Emil came to join the family. They are pen pals. That means they write letters to each other. Emil explained that Holly uses a wheelchair to get around, because they couldn't fix her legs well enough for her to walk like other dolls.
Emil told Pippa that he and Holly had been sent to the doll hospital because the doll factory had done something wrong when each of them was made. Pippa is not small because of an accident. There are many dolls who are small like Pippa. They just don't live here.
Emil is probably Pippa's favorite person in the family. He is also younger than the others and remembers what that's like. She can ask him things.
Pippa has decided that if you have to be very different from other dolls, being smaller is not so bad. Pippa can see and hear just fine without needing special glasses. She can walk and run without using a wheelchair. Pippa has even discovered that she even can climb to places way up high. She was very proud that she could reach the top of the cabinets when the dolls were tidying up the workroom for The Writer as a surprise.
Without Pippa, Billy would not have been able to get the chair back where it belonged, even using The Writer's ladder. Pippa had let down a string from the top of the cabinet, so Billy could tie it to the chair. Then it was easy for her to pull it up to the top of the cabinet. Pippa has discovered that she can bend her knees and elbows further than the other dolls. It must be because she's smaller.
Pippa's ability to climb has gotten her into trouble a few times. She climbed the Christmas tree and took down one of the ornaments to play with. She found out that they are not to play with, so she doesn't do that anymore.
When she first arrived, she didn't know you aren't supposed to look through all the cabinets and drawers in the house. There are things in there that might be dangerous. Mariah explained it to her. She never did that again! (She had seen what was in every cabinet and drawer already by the time she was caught doing it.)
Pippa found out that the things that happen to you in your sleep, even the scary things are not real! They are called dreams, and they are things your doll brain makes up so you aren't bored at night, but Pippa wishes they were all happy and not scary.
Pippa has learned is that she is what you call a child doll. That means she goes to doll school and plays with other child dolls or by herself or with Bear.
Some dolls are baby dolls. Mandy showed her a baby doll on the iPad. They don't get to go to doll school or play with other dolls, but Mandy says they don't mind, because they just like to lie around and sleep or be held and cuddled or have their diapers changed or be pretend fed. It's what they're made for.
Mandy knows a lot, because she is one of the oldest. In fact, the only doll in the family who is older is Veronika, who is so old, she even lived with someone else before she came to live with The Writer, and that was before Mandy came, so Veronika must be very, very old! She doesn't look old, though. Pippa hopes she looks that good when she gets old.
Pippa has learned from Mandy is that you shouldn't go to the beach when there is lightning happening. It's very dangerous, and you should stay at home, but you can have a nice picnic at a pretend beach, if you just use your imagination.
Mandy taught Pippa about snow. She showed her how she could use socks on her hands for mittens, but she promised to make Pippa some real mittens before the snow comes again. Pippa found out that dolls like her can't wear something called gloves. (Those are like mittens, except each finger has its own compartment––not nearly as cozy as a mitten.) The reason they have to have mittens instead of gloves is because of those two fingers stuck together. Pippa thinks Mandy should be able to make her some gloves, only make a bigger finger in the glove for those two fingers to share, but Mandy just gave her one of those looks of hers.
Pippa enjoyed playing in the snow. The other dolls say the snow will come again.
Pippa learned that Jolena uses the snow. She goes away sometimes to do something she calls skiing, and she uses the snow for that. Sometimes she goes away in the summer when there is no snow at home, because winter visits another part of the world when it leaves here. Jolena is learning Spanish, which is a language they speak where she goes to use the snow in the summer.
Pippa can understand why dolls who can't hear need a special language, but she wonders why dolls who can hear don't all speak the same one. It seem so inconvenient! (Mariah explained it to Pippa, who doesn't remember the details, but it has something to do with people and how they have been living in different places for a long time.) Jolena says it's fun, though, so Pippa thinks maybe she should learn another language.
From Mandy, Pippa learned that wood can turn to rock if you can wait long enough and if the conditions are right, whatever conditions are.
The other dolls have taught Pippa a lot, too. They always seem to know more than she does. Mariah says it isn't because Pippa isn't smart; she just hasn't been around as long. You learn new things every day. The other dolls let Pippa do things with them, and it's fun, like when they made valentines.
Charlotte and Emil celebrate a holiday called Hanukkah. It's very interesting. Each night they lit some candles, and each night it was one more candle than the night before. They said they do it once a year.
The other dolls explained Christmas to Pippa. That's another special celebration. They explained it after Pippa came upstairs and told them that a tree had suddenly grown in the living room. They showed her that it wasn't even a real tree, although some dolls do have real trees for Christmas.
Mariah has some special holidays, too. For one of them, she was put together a package of food for human people who don't have food. She was doing it to be kind. She also didn't pretend to eat or drink at all during the daytime, but only after it got dark. She did this for about a month as part of the same holiday. Pippa helped her pack the package of food. It was all food that didn't need a refrigerator.
They put the package in The Writer's car, to be given to someone who was human, and hungry for real, not pretend.
Emil never makes her feel like she should know things she doesn't. When she wanted to read Alice in Wonderland, he showed her how to find out if the library had it. They did!
The Writer picked up the book from the library for Pippa, and she read it.
Pippa has found out that it's fun to help her sisters and brothers, too. Sometimes she knows things they don't, even though they have been around much longer than she has. Like when Mariah wanted to see how she looked in a head scarf she called a hijab (HEE-jub), she couldn't see how it looked in the back. She needed a second mirror to see. She told Pippa found you can hold one mirror and see the other mirror in it! She remembered she had seen a small mirror in a drawer (back when she still thought it was OK to look through drawers). It had two kinds of mirrors, one on each side, and Jolena held up the side that you use for further away so Mariah could see. (The other side of the mirror was for close up, to use when putting on makeup, but child dolls don't use makeup.)
Another time, she told the boys there were medicines in a cabinet a young human child could get into when they were trying to baby-proof the house for The Writer, so she could babysit for a neighbor. Emil and Billy were very grateful to her, and they told her so. It made her proud, even though she would not have known what was in that cabinet if she hadn't already looked. (That had been before she knew better, though.)
"What a great family of dolls to walk through life with!" Pippa said to Bear as she was remembering all these things.
Just then, Pippa heard a voice from downstairs. "Pippa," it called. It sounded like Billy's voice. "We're ready! You can come down. Your party is ready!"
"Wow!" Pippa said to Bear. "Birthday cake and candles and presents and a party for me! What fun!"
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
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Copyright © 2021 by Peggy Stuart
Pippa has certainly made a great addition to the vinyl family.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the story my girls replied that doll families are just as important as our family. We enjoyed reading tidbits about each doll, reminiscing about their time together.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, Pippa has been a real asset!
ReplyDeleteLeslie, families are important, that's for sure. We learn a lot from our families, including that we are valued as individuals. Even though we are all different from each other, we are also much alike.