Sometimes I really do feel like I've been in a coma the past 20 years and I just woke up.I went shopping this afternoon to pick up a couple of gifts -- one for my youngest niece and one for my nephew -- both of whom I'll be visiting in a few days. As I mentioned not long ago, my nephew was born recently.
As a single, 40-something year-old guy, I have no idea what I'm doing when I enter the toy aisle or baby area in a store. When I do so to buy something for somebody else's child, I must look the part of the lost guy, because usually a mother will offer me a little guidance. Today, no mothers came to my aid. I did see a long-haired guy who was a clueless as I am.
"What in the world do you buy kids these days?" he asked.
Oh boy. He's asking me?
"I have no idea," I said.
"I just want something cheap and something they'll use. What exactly will they use?" he said.
"I have no idea," I said again.
We both shook our heads and moved on.
I spotted a doll that shares the same name as my niece. It was part of the "Bratz" line. I have never seen dolls like these before. They were wearing the shortest mini-skirts possible with long boots (pictured on the right). I passed. Then I saw Barbie (pictured on the left). I passed on her too and bought my niece a Hannah Montana pillow case. The only risk I run is that my niece has moved on from her Hannah Montana phase. Hopefully she hasn't.Next up was my nephew. I stumbled across rubber duckies. Perfect! Except, rubber duckies are more than rubber duckies these days. This particular one (pictured above) actually has a built in temperature gauge of some sort that alerts parents when the water is too hot to place the baby in. You just place the rubber ducky into the water, and after a certain amount of time you pick it up and flip it over. If it says "hot," then it's too hot for the baby.
What a great idea. You could have locked me into a room with a rubber ducky and told me I had to come up with a new idea for the rubber ducky or you wouldn't let me out and I would have been in there 20 years and still not come up with a temperature sensitive one. Probably because I'm still partial to this one:
