Can you believe this is a doll? This is “Aisha,” 🙂 by artist Gudrun Legler. See more of her work here.

The other day, the boy and I were chilling out front with my father when my neighbour’s son rolled through the ‘hood, wife and baby girl in tow. Greg and Jeanne are an interracial couple as well, but the inverse of the boy and I. Greg is black and she’s white. Their daughter, Arianna, is such a sweet pumpkin. I immediately grabbed her, and Jeanne seemed to be happy to have her hands free for a bit.

The boy recently had a dream that we’d had a baby girl, and as I cooed and fussed over five-month-old Arianna, I could feel him watching me. I walked over to where he was sitting. “Was our dream-baby as cute as this one?” I asked quietly, bouncing her in my arms. He smiled at her giggles.

“Hell yeah,” he replied. “Cuter, even.”

“Huh,” I said. I made the “not bad” face.

As Jeanne enjoyed a beer with the fellas, I walked around the perimeter of the driveway with Arianna. She’s so cute. I found myself taking in her skin tone and the darkness of her eyes and lashes as compared to the surprising medium-brown of the hair on her head. She had a fair amount of it, too. Not a lot, but enough. Fluffy, soft curls. I brought face down and kissed the top of her head, inhaling her sweet baby scent.

I held her for a few hours until Greg and Jeanne left. Arianna seemed to really enjoy my cuddles, and put on a little stink-face as I handed her over to her mother. “She really liked you,” Jeanne remarked. “Arianna usually ends up fussing after more than 10 minutes away from me. You’re a natural…perhaps motherhood is in your future!”

I turned to the boy and smiled. “Hear that, babe? She thinks I’m a natural. And that perhaps motherhood is in my future!”

He scoffed and took a sip of his beer. “See what happens when women get together? Crazy talk! Go home and stop putting ideas into my girl’s head.”

The guys guffawed while Jeanne and I just rolled our eyes.