Again, no surprises here — my 22-month-old daughter loves ‘baby’ (currently it doesn’t matter which one). We have two babies in our house.  On your left you will see Winnie (the winker).  We bought Winnie from the Early Learning Centre for my son about a month before my daughter was born to get him into babies (which seemed to work quite well). On your right you will see Polly Dolly (for ease I have called most of my daughter’s soft-toys ‘Polly’ – we have a Polly Parrot, a Polly Princess, a Polly Polar (bear) and of course Polly Dolly).  My husband bought Polly Dolly for Lioba the Christmas before she was born.

Polly Dolly is a Kathe Kruse Bade-Puppe (bath doll).  Kathe Kruse is a wonderful German brand famous for dolls (but a brand I personally love for all their baby toys and music boxes*).  

Kathe Kruse was an actress turned doll-maker, who started making dolls in 1905.  She built her company up, whilst raising her 7 children, with the philosophy that dolls should be made for children to love (as opposed to the breakable porcelain dolls of the time). However, there is something about the typical Kathe Kruse doll that reminds me of those porcelain dolls — they are almost too beautiful.  That’s why I love the bath-doll.  She is a simple plastic doll (with holes to allow water out when she is bathed).  But, I find her so special because she has such a pretty face.  I recently found myself in the girl’s department of our local toy store and was horrified by the dolls on offer — I could not find one doll I’d want to love; they were all slightly freakish looking and in horrendous clothing (I can’t believe my fashion-snobbery has stretched to my daughter’s doll!).  Polly came in a sweet blue gingham dress with a red cardy and a matching hat and we bought her this supplementary outfit from a cool Berlin store, Emma & Co, (mentioned by Judith in the Babyccino Berlin get-away guide).

* You can buy a good range of Kathe Kruse toys from Stork Gifts in the UK.

-Mo