*I received a review item for writing this post.

I love HABA toys because I have yet to find a HABA toy that isn’t really high quality and really open ended – allowing for tons of hours of play. They sell the types of toys that you don’t mind paying more for because you know your children will get lots of play out of the toys and they will be able to pass down when your child does outgrow them.

I was recently sent Baby Lucy from the Lilliputiens line at HABA and it only furthered my love of HABA and my belief in the quality of their toys. I’ve mentioned before that my 2 year old nephew Drew has taken somewhat of an interest in dolls since his baby sister was born back in March. While he is pretty much beyond the stage of putting toys in his mouth, I don’t like to leave him unsupervised with toys that aren’t recommended for his age. However, most dolls aren’t recommended for kids under 3. So I was drawn to Baby Lucy because she is safe for all ages, so this is a doll that I can feel comfortable with him using without supervision. I’ve known children who get interested in playing with baby dolls even before 18 months, so being safe for all ages would be great for children like that as well. I was also drawn to Baby Lucy because she has a stuffed hedgehog toy instead of a teddy bear. As a hedgehog owner, I thought this was insanely cute.

When I introduced Drew to Baby Lucy, his immediate reaction was to be excited about her bottle. He wanted to “feed” her right away. The look on his face was SO cute when he realized that baby lucy’s bottle sticks to her mouth because it is magnetic. Being that both are cloth, it’s not immediately obvious that it would be magnetic but he clearly found that really cool. He then proceeded to hang onto Lucy by her neck and let the bottle dangle the air. Boys are so silly!

He asked me “what’s that?” while pointing to her leaf basket. I explained that it is kind of like her bed. “Oh! Baby’s going night night!” he replied as he tucked her into the basket and gave her a bottle. He decided she needed a blanket so he dug around until he found a small cloth that was suitable as a blanket.

Please don’t mind the dirty face – this little guy is almost impossible to keep clean sometimes.

He got distracted for a while and later came back to Lucy unprompted, saying that she needed a diaper change. Lucy’s diaper (or underwear – they could really pass for either) has two small tabs on either of her hips. The front of the diaper has a velcro strip, and the tabs lay over them. Seems how they are velcro, they are really easy for Drew to do and undo. Lucy’s jacket and shoes also use velcro, so he can dress and undress her without help. I think this is awesome and really shows that this toy is designed for toddlers because almost all doll clothes are impossible for Drew to manipulate on his own with the fine motor skills that he has at 2. He can get the diaper and jacket off and on with no problems, and can remove the shoes easily too. Any of you who have been around two year olds know how much pride they get by doing things all by themselves, so I really appreciate their design. The dolls feet are rather puffy (circular) in shape and her shoes go up to her ankles which are much slimmer, so he does need help stuffing her feet back into the shoes. He tends to leave her shoes on anyway though.

While Drew hasn’t played with Lucy for long periods of time, he revisits her for a few minutes here and there fairly regularly. Though, he isn’t one to play with any toy for real long. So I think Lucy is definitely a winner in his book. He’s even dragged her along in the car a few times.

I was surprised that my 9 year old sister also took an interest in Lucy. While I would be surprised if she would play with her regularly over a long period of time, when she first saw her she wanted to check her out. Like me, she was super excited to see that Lucy’s “teddy bear” is actually a hedgehog. She also really liked the carrying basket and she mentioned that she’s never owned or seen a doll that had a bed that could also be used to carry the doll around before which she thought was cool.

Getting to see Baby Lucy in person and watching the kids in my life play with her has only reinforced my love of HABA and their vast selection of quality toys. You can keep up with HABA on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube and Google+.

Emily

Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.

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