My American Girl Experience

As a former Cabbage Patch parent, I think this place is genius. Why didn't I think of it myself? American Girl has it all: outfits, fake baby food, a movie theater, even a cafe that provides highchairs and caters to the dolls so that they're one stop short of being a real human. Bravo, nicely done.

I have a few concerns regarding the dolls; the first of which - they are creepy! They have those button eyes that close when you put them down and open when they are standing up. They remind me of those horror movies where there is a peculiar collection of porcelain dolls that come alive when the clock strikes twelve.

In the upstairs Bitty Baby Collection, I looked through the selection of babies and noticed that they had strategically coordinated the dolls according to their skin color. Almost like a foundation make-up counter, except with dolls. The black baby was way on the left because it had the darkest skin tone, and the white baby was on the right. What was in between was a mystery. So I had to ask the worker, "Which one is the Asian one?" He pointed to the doll one over to the right from the black baby. Honestly, I thought that was a lighter skinned black baby. But then I noticed the hairline. "OOOh," I said, "The Asian one has stick straight hair, while the black baby's hairline is curly." The worker smiled and walked away.

One more thing about these dolls... why does the Asian doll always have to be wearing the Chinese outfit while all the other babies have cute Gap-style clothing on? Seriously, the folks over at American Girl have come so far with their creativity, but some things still haven't changed.