13:365 Little chicken

Anna: When our older daughter was about 5 years old, we discovered the American Girl dolls. She really liked them and wanted one, so we told her that for every dollar she saved towards purchasing a starter set of the doll of her choice, we would match the amount. She chose the Josephina doll and was so motivated, she put every dollar she got, from the tiny allowance she was getting at the time, to birthday and Christmas money, towards the doll. Even after pointing out that she didn't need to put *all* her money aside - that she could actually spend some of it on something else if she wanted, she chose to save for the doll.

At the time, getting the set would cost about $500 Canadian, including shipping. It took her a full year to save up her half of the money. Then we moved unexpectedly. I told her that, because of the move, ordering the set would have to wait a few weeks, since we didn't have a new address yet. Things worked out differently, and I was able to place the order just a few days before we left, and it arrived shortly after we did. It was a wonderful surprise for her, but I screwed up on one thing. I made the mistake of mentioning that this was really expensive, and to be careful as we wouldn't be able to replace anything that broke. She became so concerned about breaking something, she ended up hardly playing with it at all and, eventually, it ended up sitting in a box.

Flash forward about 10 years. The girls are cleaning out their closets (without being asked!) and our younger daughter pulled out the box with Josephina. Included in the set was this tiny little chicken with its cage and single egg. Two eggs came with the set, but we lost one a few moves back. I always thought the tiny eggs were the cutest things ever!

And yes, those feathers *are* pink. They're not supposed to be. The cat knocked a watering can over, spilling water onto the box Josephine was kept in while not being played with. By the time I noticed, dye from the red skirt and paper "chilis" had spread and stained just about everything. Even the cage has a slightly pink tinge to it! *L*

Philippe: Oh, the things you see when you *don't* have a real camera along.. :(