Now that we’re out of the worst of it, I feel I’m in a good position to tell you the whole story about what happened with Una and my eldest this past week.

You might remember being introduced to Una, sometimes called Cinderella, sometimes called “THE BLUE ONE!!!!” this past May in a previous Dolly Entourage post here where I described the trauma involved with accidentally leaving her one night at Granny and Grandpa’s.

In case you need a visual – you know, so as to remember exactly which blue dolly in the Entourage we’re talking about – it’s this one:

By way of quick background, my eldest and Una (we’ll go with that for this post for simplicity) met at a garage sale over two years ago and it was love at first site.

Una was well-loved before we ever got her and has been … fully engaged in many of our family activities for the last two years.

In case it isn’t clear from the photo, she also isn’t what I’d call a … top end dolly.

Her arms and legs are hard plastic. Her shoes painted on.

But my daughter’s love for this dolly saw only her true inner beauty and, with a certain neglect for the reality of her age and constitution, they played HARD.

And so a couple of months ago the front of one of her feet broke off.

It was traumatic, but we got through it. As I’ve previously posted, we have a number of active and loved members of the Dolly Entourage lacking various body parts. Missing heads, missing legs, no matter. Still loved.

But then the rest of her foot came off.

And it was just too much.

I decided it was time to bring in the big guns.

It was time to call Grandpa.

Who has crazy glue, a camera, and a work bench.

So we brought Una to Sunday night dinner at my parents’ house and she was admitted to Dolly Hospital, located on the work bench in my parents’ basement.

My father assured my daughter he would do “everything he could” for her, explained she’d have to stay overnight in hospital, and gave them a few moments to say goodbye.

So we left Una with my parents.

On Tuesday, I was relived to get an update that the surgery was successful and her foot had been reattached!

I promptly sent an update to our daycare provider so she could advise my daughter.

There was much celebration.

My father, a doctor although not THAT kind of doctor, and so with his completely questionable medical expertise but with the knowledge of someone who has, well, built stuff and previously used glue, advised that the glue should probably dry a bit before resumption of regular activities.

However, by late Wednesday, he advised she was ready for release, as soon as a member of the immediate family was ready to come get her.

She was home and waiting for my daughter when she got home today, with instructions that she needed to rest for a few more days before she was ready for play again – and before we remove the bandage – but she could certainly have visitors.

So, with the exception of bandage removal, the story is done. I may tweet, or update the post when we do that, but I hope I’m not tempting fate by writing as done now. It’s been such a focus of our week that it felt wrong not to capture it now.

Together forever indeed. Here’s hoping she can join in with all the other dolls doing whatever they plan on doing next soon!

What about you? Any notable toy repair stories to share? Inspire me!