An Awkward Aside

Dear Grandparents,

I found myself in a heap of trouble last August when I suggested that Laney didn't need anything for her birthday. I got a negative response from everyone except my mother, who decided to go with denial as her strategy and said, "Well, I assumed that didn't apply to me." Fiddle Dee Dee.

So in case anyone is wondering - and this is NOT a solicitation for gifts, because again, the baby doesn't need a darn thing - these are some things Laney would enjoy:

Lift-the-flap and pop-up books. Large bricks of Tillamook cheese or a lovely Hillshire Farms gift basket (I am 20% joking). Anything featuring "The Backyardigans" - we only have the "Escape From The Tower" DVD. She has enough clothes to choke a goat, but in case you wanted to know, she wears a 24M / 2T with a size 5 shoe. An iTunes gift card (I'm not making this up - she likes to play the interactive games on my iPod and we've about worn out the three games we have). She's starting to get into coloring (see previous post) so an easel would be great. Or a table and chair set for her bedroom. She's into sorting things - she has one of those stacking rings sets and a shape-sorting ball, and she loves both, so maybe something in that vein. She loves doing projects w/ her dad, so maybe a toy tool set/Laney tool box (so far, she only has a ratchet - thanks again, Uncle Nate!).

As always, we would prefer you to save your money for plane tickets, because seeing you is the best gift she could have. And I'm not just saying that to be nice.

Also, if you get her anything like the dress at the top of this post, I will write you a lovely thank-you note about how it makes Laney look like a mini-Rockette. Then, I'll return it to JC Penney so fast it'd make your head spin. That's how we do it in Dixie.

Love,

Brooke