It had to happen. It was well beyond time. Remember the old Ariel the one that while cute and the perfect snuggle size had the scariest, nappiest hair you've ever seen? Emma had been playing with that dolls hair twisting it around her finger and twirling it since she was only two months old. She is now two and a half. Old Ariel's hair resembled something quite close to that of Medusa, it was frightening. When we would go out in public and Em would be carrying it I wondered if people might question my parenting and think "Oh poor little girl with that raggedy old doll. Too bad her mom won't get her a new one, that's so sad." Even though the doll was clean and not super old her hair was so ratted and notted that every tried and true remedy to fix it failed. It was to the point that Emma would actually get her fingers stuck and entangled in it when she tried to play with it. We knew it was time to bring in a replacement. No problem, I thought and looked at all the places I would regularly doll shop...to no avail. Surely online then, I told myself thinking you can find anything on the internet. Which you can except to find out that this particular doll model is not made anymore. So you either buy someone else's gently used one off of Ebay, which we did not want to do because it is plush and that grosses me out, or you spend a fortune buying one that is now considered a collectible. Sorry Em I love you but we are going to have to compromise. I could not find a single Ariel plush doll that had the hair that she could play with real hair. All the dolls I could find with hair only had hard bodies and she wouldn't be able to snuggle and sleep with them comfortably. Then online at the Disney store I saw they had plush Ariel dolls and even though the hair was fabric it looked soft so I decided to give it a try. I warned Deke that if it was a no go we would just have to figure something out with old Ariel, ratted or not. It has been such a special bond for Emma I was not going to take it from her and cause trauma. If she was ready then we would make the switch and I was going to try to encourage it. So one morning we woke up and Deke and I made a big deal about going to the Disney store and picking out a new Ariel. Emma's eyes got wide and she held Ariel up to her face and excitedly said, "Guess what Ariel, we going to get new friend Ariel today." Oh geez. I thought now she thinks she is getting a new Ariel as a friend to the current Ariel but will get to keep both. How do I explain the idea of replacement to her at two. "Well Ariel's hair has gotten really yucky so we are going to get a new one with nice hair for you. A new Ariel." She looked me eyebrows furrowed, "No, not new one, Ariel my friend. I get new Ariel for me have two Ariel's." This was going well. So we loaded up old Ariel in her hands and headed to the mall. I told her to leave her in the car and we walked into the store. Instantly she was caught up in the princess dresses, character pjs and fun toys all around the store. I didn't see the doll anywhere. I asked and what do you know it was out of stock. Awesome. They did have a mini version of the doll so I took her over to see that one. "Look mom, Ariel!!" she said and started jumping and reaching for it. "Oh she is so pretty and soft. Look at her sparkly tail!!!" I said really laying it on thick. As it reached her still slightly chubby toddler hands she brought it close and grinned she held the hair and rubbed it on her cheeks telling me how soft it was. Bingo. First part of transition accomplished. So we headed up to the counter and ordered our plush Ariel that would arrive to our home in 7-10 days. Everyday we would talk about whether or not she would arrive today. Finally one afternoon a knock at the door and a box addressed to Emma Burch sat on the porch. We brought it in and I video taped as she opened it. She was thrilled. It does something weird to my heart though as I look at these pictures and see old Ariel laying on the floor in the background.
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