Barbie Mania

So, Littletree was looking at the box of her Barbie, and got me to read out everything written on it, and explain what it all meant. We got to the bit that said http://www.barbie.com/ and you can guess where that led too...

So now she has spent half of her waking hours in the last day on this website (which I have to sheepishly admit is pretty cool). There's this role-playing game called BarbieWorld, where you get your own avatar, that you can dress and style how you like, change the hair and face and colouring etc. and you get your own room that you can decorate and furnish how you like. Then there's a kind of map of the local mall, that you can walk around in, go into shops and buy stuff (you make money in various 'jobs' like doing nails in a salon, mixing music videos or giving Ken a makeover). There's all these other kids playing, and you can chat with them, give gifts, invite each other to your rooms, have parties, and stuff. you also get a cell phone so you can text your friends when they are online. Littletree made friends with one girl whose user name is LUV2BeMe, I thought that was pretty cool. They chatted for ages and gave each other gifts.

Obviously, at 4, Littletree, despite all her awesome literacy and typing skills is still not really up for IM conversations, so I did the reading and typing while she ran the mouse and told me what to say. But I was amazed at how many words she actually recognised. several times she said aloud the reply before I could read it to her. And she's really starting to get the hang of saving money and working for money to buy the things she wants. Like there was a skirt she really wanted to buy, but she didnt have enough for it, so she went to the nail salon, and worked out how many manicures she needed to do!

Okay, I'll admit it, this Barbie thing is actually cool. I started thinking maybe I could start buying up cheap old barbies, like on eBay and in the opshop, and making them clothes and hairstyles to look like Rainbow people. Like we could have the Dreadlocked Feral Barbie, and the IndiaHead Barbie, and the Forest Pixie Barbie, and the YogaSpace Barbie, and the ChaiShop Barbie... she could come with accessories like the Barbie Tipi and the Barbie Sweatlodge, and her own cup, bowl and spoon, and her own talking stick!