Introducing Marmalade and Bootsie

These beautiful handmade dolls have become such a big part of Scooby and Baby Man's lives, we thought it was time they had their own 'bit'.

We phased out the giant jumble of plastic toys and phased in a new era of fewer, but higher quality, playthings made of natural materials.

The Waldorf Gurus we sought out promised us the Urchins would treat these dolls like human friends, and we had our doubts...but it's true!









We weren't sure if Baby Man would take to his, as he didn't show much interest in the plastic dolls Scooby played with, but he and Bootsie do everything together.

At night, Baby Man often digs out Bootsie's duck PJ's and props him up so he can see the books during storytime. Lately, he's taken to cooking for him.

Marmalade, shown here as a mermaid, is the Queen of Scooby's dolls and is treated with great love and respect.

It's really clear to us that they have responded to the obvious quality of these dolls, painstakingly made by a human being.

At first, in my ignorance, I didn't like these dolls much, with their primitive faces. Their facial features are deliberately left rudimentary so the child can imagine the doll to be having any emotion. They are stuffed with sheep's wool, which warms up as the doll is held, so they feel 'alive'.

As their wardrobes have grown, thanks in part to a clever knitting Grandma, we've found the Rugrats have continued to take great care of Marmalade's and Bootsie's clothes (I thought as the clothes piled up, they might take them for granted).

We set them up with hangers and a little knob rack and are frankly amazed at how neat and orderly the tiny clothes always are. It's all true! These Waldorf folks really know their stuff.