Florence, like me, is a dolly fan! Big dollies, little dollies, dollies with wings… You name it and she’ll like it if it’s a doll! There is however one dolly in particular which has had most perusal in the Argos catalogue, most stops in the shops to look at and has been on her wish list for as long as I can remember and that’s Baby Annabell by Zapf Creations. Now Florence does have a rather extensive collection of baby dolls and the Zapf Creations ones do seem to be her absolute favourites. I don’t know how they know exactly what little girls want but they do and from her first one which was Sleeping Baby Annabel (the dolly Jimmy brought her when he was born) to Baby Annabell herself she doesn’t ever tire of them! Once you see them up close and out of their boxes it’s easy to see why.

Keen on a dolly like I am and I can still get excited by them! The things they can do these days are amazing and I know as a child I would have been over the moon with a dolly like this one, just as Florence is today. Firstly I know what she’s looking for because it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was her age and looking for the same thing. Little girls want baby dolls who can cry, be fed, who can have their clothes changed and ones which have realistic sounds. These days, and unlike when I was little this is entirely possible and in fact they offer much more than just that! Baby Annabell can be fed real water and then she can cry real tears! On top of this while she is being fed with her lamb bottle or has the dummy she comes with in her mouth, she sucks; not just a sucking sound either as her lips purse and move in and out with the sucking noise! She also goes to sleep when she’s satisfied after a feed and closes her own eyes while making sleepy noises! Most of the time she gurgles and sounds happy but occasionally she gets upset and cries her real tears.Little hands can sooth her by patting her back for a burp or stroking her face until she goes to sleep… Seriously, this is the sort of doll I would have simply been amazed at! And Florence is!

We gave her Baby Annabell just the other day. Both her and Jimmy had been really poorly and she deserved a treat for being so good. I’d been sent Baby Annabell to review and I knew as I watched her thumb over the picture in the Argos catalogue for the umpteenth time that it was definitely the treat she deserved! They both had the same tummy bug but because Jimmy got dehydrated he had to stay in hospital and I had to stay with him so even though Florence had the bug too she had to be without me and come with my Mum to and from the hospital. She must have felt ghastly but she never complained so a present was definitely on the cards!

Florence was literally stunned! It was only a few weeks ago that she was given BABY Born (which we reviewed here) and I don’t think she could quite believe her luck! Her initial reaction was ‘I’m going to need a double buggy’!

From the moment she got her out of the box (I would like to say this was with ease – I can’t stand it when things are welded into their boxes with pieces of metal, this one is tied in with stretchy thin elastic bands and easy to remove) she loved her and couldn’t get enough of her. And this was all without batteries. I hadn’t thought about the fact she would need 4xAA batteries and being a Sunday evening we didn’t have much hope of getting any. I envisaged this leading to melt down but Florence just took it all in her stride and said ‘Ok, we’ll get some in the morning’ and continued to talk away to Baby Annabell and pretend to feed her without any water.

Florence was in no uncertain terms as to what Baby Annabell can do! She’s looked at many pictures of her, seen the television advert and the box gave her pictures of everything but she really didn’t mind waiting for the batteries and playing with her without any of the gizmos! Testament to what a lovely dolly she is!

From that first feed without any water and no prospect of tears Florence has loved Baby Annabell and looked after her. She, like BABY Born has to come everywhere with us. I’ve actually started saying only one baby now and she has a real job deciding which but I think at the moment Baby Annabell seems to have the edge!

And then we put batteries in her and if she wasn’t a hit before then she certainly was after! I think what Florence likes is getting the baby to sleep just like a real Mummy. She loves to feed her and stroke her to sleep and it really is quite amazing how it works! The way Baby Annabell moves isn’t clumsy or a little bit weird as it can be with some dolls, she’s very gentle and her noises are super quiet! If she’s left on over night and in the toy box when she suddenly makes a noise, it’s not a jump out of your skin ‘get that doll away from me’ moment at all! I can totally see why Florence is so chuffed with her!

Being fed to sleep!

Florence is very diligent with her looking after of all her babies and she plays lovely games with all of them. I love listening to her talk to them and play make-believe games which encourage her imagination and because Baby Annabell responds it only enhances her enjoyment. When Baby Annabell cries Florence comes running and doesn’t want me to be the one to stop it, in fact she gets quite miffed if I’ve done something to stop whatever noise she’s making because she likes to be the one to give her the dummy or bottle etc. It’s really very sweet and I hear her saying things to her babies like I say to Jimmy! I love the fact that she wants to be just like me and she even likes to take baby Annabell out in her sling just like when I carry her or Jimmy!

So Florence is thrilled! What little girl wouldn’t be and between BABY Born’s accessories of extra baby food and nappies and the accessories that you can buy extra for Baby Annabell like clothes, buggies and other baby accessories I think Florence’s Christmas list will be huge. She also now has decided she wants a boy dolly… Baby Annabell does have a brother you can buy so we shall see!

For more information on Baby Annabell and all of the Zapf collection please see the website www.zapfcreation.com/uk.

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