Too much Spring Cleaning!

Today dawned warm and full of sunshine...mild enough for breakfast outdoors. We are all ready for this warmth. Ready for the sun on our faces. Ready to exchange days spent in the house (with a few trips out for fresh air) for days spent outside (with a few trips indoors for sustenance and supplies).

We are still in the throes of Spring Cleaning, but we thought we could work and enjoy the sunshine at the same time. Toucie decided her babydoll laundry needed attention:

"Mama" is washing while Moke (Toucie's doll) looks on.

Wow...this is going great...she is so absorbed in her work "This is totally ideal", I think to myself.
I move away to tend to work of my own, fondly glancing over to check on Toucie every once in a while.
Lots of good work getting done...maybe I am pretty good at this mothering thing after all!

Um...Touce, what's behind your back?

Oh no....Moke was not due for a bath. Cloth doll- 100% wool insides - 100% cotton outsides - completely soaked in grubby water. Too much cleaning, Toucie!

"But Mama, she loved it! Look, she is still smiling!"

For the record, if this should ever happen to a Waldorf doll at your house (whether by accident or design), just make sure to press out as much water as possible with dry towels, and hang up to dry where there is lots of air circulation. The dryer is not a good idea since water + heat + agitation + wool = felt...this could result in a lumpy mess. Also, I recommend hanging dolls with feet pointing down so water can drain away from the head. The head is the most dense part and you really want it to get dry all the way to the core. Moke came through her adventure just fine and now joins the ranks of other non-washable dolls in our family that have been washed. (I should make them all some dolly-sized T-shirts..."I survived Toucie's childhood")