The Baking Baby

As I've mentioned in the past, I share the same major as one of my roommates. She's in the Creative Writing program and I'm in the English Language and Literature program. We do share common classes though, and do enjoy spending time together. This year, she has been taking the publishing class offered in her program. Many of my fellow bloggers in 26-397 know my roommate from their publishing class. This is the same roommate that flooded the house over Thanksgiving weekend. During our last blogging workshop, two of my classmates asked me about my roommate's baby. I was very confused at first, I had no idea anyone was expecting in our house. It turns out they were referring to the baby doll that has taken residence in our house. I completely forgot about this strange little baby that had become part of our lives. Why I didn't think of this to write about before I don't know. It was definitely a highlight of the year.

My roommate found out about this strange phenomena called Baby Reborn ©. The basic premise of it is you get shipped parts of a baby doll that you need to assemble. You just don't assemble it, you have to paint it to look life like, by adding flesh tones and eyebrows and redness to the cheeks. The best part, at least in my opinion, is that every time you paint a new coat, you need to bake the baby. I know that sounds sick and twisted, but I'm not lying. You heat the oven and put the pieces of the baby on a baking sheet and bake it for 20 minutes. Eventually, you add hair and put the baby together, attaching all its limbs, and you have real-looking doll. Sounds creepy right? The thing actually looks real; it could pass as a baby. Things may not have been as creepy or weird, if it didn't take up space on the kitchen table. All these limbs on a baking sheet on the table and the head just looked terrifying. I support any hobbies my roommates want to take up, but this was one that just weirded me out. Just to add a little more amusement, our oven is very temperamental and likes to either cook too fast or too slow, there's never a medium. In order to prevent an overcooked baby, my roommate cooked downstairs at our neighbours in their oven. There were multiple times that people would walk by and see my roommate exiting and entering houses with parts of a baby on a baking sheet. Then there was the time she left for reading week and carried just the head outside with her to the car. It reminded us of those shrunken heads you see in ritual ceremonies.

I don't know what you can do with a baby doll after you've finished creating it, other than look at. It's not exactly the best toy to play with. I think staring at it for so long would trick my mind into believing that it may be real. It also costs a lot of money to create these dolls, because you have to pay for the body, the paints, the brushes, the glaze, and shipping and handling. It's not a cheap hobby that's for sure. This isn't the only baby she plans on creating either, she has already started to imagine what her next Baby Reborn© will look like. I don't think I could sleep in my bedroom with fake babies all around me. But if that's a hobby she wishes to take up, even if it is a creepy one, we're all supporting her in whatever baby she chooses next.