Baby Dear

If you were to ask me what my favorite story was as a child, I will, without even thinking, say Baby Dear. It is a an old Little Golden Book published in 1962.  It is about a little girl who has a very special baby doll, Baby Dear.  Her father gave her Baby Dear when he brought her mother home from the hospital with the little girl's new baby sister.  As the little girl's mother gives her baby a bath, a bottle and rocks the baby to sleep, the little girl does the same for Baby Dear.  I LOVED this book as a little girl and would choose it every night. I am sure my mother grew sick of reading this book over and over again. I am sure she would have LOVED if I chose something else--ANYTHING else--from time to time. I don't know what happened to the book Baby Dear, but somewhere through the years it must have been donated.  Years later, I came across a copy at a yard sale and it was like seeing a long-lost friend.  I immediately purchased the book and have held on to it knowing someday it would live
on the bookshelf in my child's room.

Tonight at bedtime, as I have many times before, I pulled Baby Dear off of the shelf and read it to my baby daughter, sleepy on my lap and sweet-smelling from her bath.  There are many books I LOVE reading to my children, but Baby Dear is one of my favorites to read because I feel like it is a piece of my childhood I can share with them.  It is filled with love and warmth for me and I feel like I pass that along to them each time I read it.