Anthea and the baseball bat
Accident
Anthea went to school with the youngest human, where unfortunately, she encountered a boy with a baseball bat during recess. After getting a mighty whack, all her elastic joints snapped and her arms and legs flew off in all directions. Small human was distraught, but fortunately Anthea’s upper legs, arms, and feet were found, though the lower legs vanished completely. When I asked whether I should to try to repair the doll, small human requested that I re-elasticate her but not replace the missing shins. She says Anthea is disabled now, and needs a wheelchair so she can be independent again.
.
.
Fitting
So with the help of our favourite photographer, we made a wheelchair using Anthea’s favourite wooden chair, some spare wooden wheels, lolly sticks, quite a bit of hot-melt glue, some washers, a threaded plastic bolt, and some screws.
.
.
Paintings
And Anthea has taken up painting! She painted some lovely pictures describing her experiences. Her friends are working with her to hang a show in the Art Gallery…
.
.
Accessible ramp
…and a ramp was added to the Art Gallery entrance.
.
.
just so
Vanilla hung the paintings exactly as Anthea directed…
.
.
Self Portrait
The show looked fantastic!
.
.
Admiring
The Opening was a great occasion!
.
.
Pleased
The young human was very pleased because Anthea is doing really well, and her friends are being loving and supportive!
This is an absolutely true story!
.
.
Quimper Hittys 
I think i love youngest human.
I love her too – she is an interesting, and kind person.
Humanity is well represented here.
I do think the story seems to show the “golden rule” in a particularly striking way, it just all boils down to Be kind to one another, doesn’t it?
That’s one little boy who needs to learn a little respect for others. Grr…. I think your little human is being most mature about about the situation. And Anthea is still beautiful… maybe prosthetics some time in the future??? I remember my very first ever Barbie. My so-called best friend broke her in half. It was at a time when I was homeless, and the first Christmas after my Dad died. A very traumatic time. There was no repairing her. And, I didn’t have a doll again until after I married. And, I don’t bring them out around visitors to our home. I treasure them too much to take that risk.
I believe that the situation was a learning experience for the boy too, as time was taken by teachers and parents to address the situation. Our Young Human received very sincere apologies, including a letter from the boy, and she felt that restitution had been made. It was a very upsetting incident, but it led to much that was positive.
Would this small human be available for conferences? She could teach a thing or two! Also appreciate the creativity and craftsmanship that went into the wheel chair! Amazing loving Quimper team!
I do feel so lucky to live near this small human – she inspires us in so many ways. Finding a way to make a wheel chair was essential – we discussed many versions before we found the materials that would work together!
Athena is still having a wonderful time with the loving help of her friends especially that wonderful wheel chair. The art gallery was a delight but the best of all was the smiling face on youngest member of the family.
It is always a delight to us when we can work with young human to play and make stories. I am amazed at what comes out of her creative brain, it is fun and we learn lots together.
What a loving precious young human you have! Truly she is a blessing!
I do feel that way too – and lucky to be able to spend time with, and experience such interesting parts of her life.
I was utterly appalled that the Youngest Human had such a horrible experience at school- I hope that the bat wielding child received some close scrutiny and guidance about his actions! I love how YH has responded with such resiliency and creativity. She is such a gift to the planet!
I love the wheelchair- it’s very charming and I love that Anthea has taken up painting and that the gallery is now wheelchair friendly.
Perhaps Anthea might enjoy having a pair of wings in the future for when she wants to flutter about in trees and gardens?
When our daughter was about YH’s age, our dog, who had a thing about chewing plastic, chewed one arm off of Darling Daughter’s Barbie doll. She was quite understanding that Beloved Dog couldn’t seem to stop his plastic chewing addiction and wasn’t upset about the truncated arm. I asked her if I should carve a prosthetic, and she said, ‘No, it’s not a problem, Barbie just has the same arm as S___, and she manages just fine, so Barbie can, too’. Our friend, S___, had been born without the lower half of her right arm, and it never slowed her down, so I loved that our daughter saw that as part of perfectly normal.
Bat-boy did have some discussions with teacher, parents, and young human about the incident. I do believe that he was almost as shocked as young human was with the result of his “playfulness”, certainly his parents were. Much was learned by all involved! I believe that as with your daughter, the incorporating of many versions of normal into a view of life, and expressed in childhood play, is a wonderful thing.
I am so glad that discussions were held and that life has expanded in the wake of the incident!
the world needs more like the YH, her very mature response reflects the family who have loved and taught her. The wheelchair is a stroke of genius and the art show is delightful.
Our Young Human is a joy and hope, we treasure her, and learn from her whenever we cross paths – we are so glad that her family lives in the same town as we do! Wheelchair was totally her idea, and we enjoyed finding a way to make it happen for her…and her household is very encouraging of art and creativity! Lucky young human!
And this is an absolutely truly fabulous little girl that you and her family have raised really well. We need more YH’s like her.
It is so interesting and delightful to see the way this young human thinks and acts, through joyful moments and difficulties…we are truly blessed to have her in our lives! I agree – thoughtful and kind people are needed in the world!
I somewhat regret the days when Baseball Bat Boy would have encountered a quite different piece of wood, one that was thin and whippy and left a lasting impression that Hittys are not suitable subjects for batting practice… Youngest Human is impressively inclusive, and I like that your Hitty community is now peopled by diverse abilities.
I had been wondering if the Hittys needed an invalid chair, as there are not infrequent incidents of broken elastics, or pegs,which now seem quite mild compared to the results of the mighty whack. We were interested, and also glad that Young Human viewed Anthea’s accident from a different angle.
I must say I had similar initial thoughts about Bat-boy, but was very impressed with the way all the adults handled the situation without shame or vengeance. He wrote a generous and sincere apology, and is not allowed to bring his bat to school any more…the children seem to have accepted the resolution, and though changed from the experience all in all it is OK now.
I believe that the youngest Quimper Human takes after her very compassionate and caring Grandmother!! What a lovely outcome to what was a traumatic incident. And how great that she had a team to help her construct the wheelchair. Lovely!!!
Well thank you – I am so glad we can make a contribution, but I am sure young human’s parents have also given rise to her sweet personality, and we all just encourage the person she already is! The wheelchair construction took a bit of fiddling for sure – we were glad it suited Anthea, and she likes it!
This is great story, you are so nice dear Hitty Lady, but your small Human too. Thank you, Love, nia
Thank you Nia, we were glad to help our young human resolve this situation in a way that resolved the problem in such a creative and kind way.