A BABY SHOWER GIFT

WELL, EXCEPT I HAVE NOT BEEN INVITED TO THE BABY SHOWER, tho I at least have met the mama to be. Am I perhaps over reacting to the news that someone we know is going to be a Grandpa, again? And that it is going to be a little girl? A GIRL! I am trying to remember when I was last able to buy something for a little girl. We have had nothing but boys since… um… 1977???? OMG! NOT ONE GODDAUGHTER, COUSIN BABY GIRL, GRANDCHILD – NOT ONE.

I have considered asking mothers I have seen in the children’s department if I could buy a little dress for their little girl, but no doubt they would have had me arrested for… well, I don’t know, something…  it sure would sound creepy to me if the shoe were on the other foot. But 30+ years of buying camouflage shirts, rough and tough jeans, dinosaur shirts and jammies, trucks and race cars, toy chain saws, dinosaurs of every size and description… jackets and shirts in camo or with John Deere printed on them… well… I confess, as much as I have loved all my guys (little or now grown) I have often looked with longing at the little pink ruffled fancy dresses, precious little sun dresses with a border of daisies, Valentine dresses with little hearts and roses, little matching socks with ruffles…. SIGH.

OK, I confess, I find humor in camo boxers and camo sox, even camo onesies, but enough is enough. Briar has John Deere undies, pjs, shirts, jackets and a hat, and any toy that has John Deere on it. (Caleb is the future paleontologist, and can name more creatures from the great age of dinosaurs than I even knew existed!) But I really have had enough of Spiderman sheets and pillows. Do you know what I mean?

So, while munching on a piece of forbidden pumpkin pie at my neighbor and friend’s house yesterday, he announced his daughter had had a sonogram, and his little grandson will have a baby sister this summer. I was excited for him, tho he had no idea how nice those words sounded - “Its a girl!” A girl. wow. So, I controlled my urge to go out and buy little pink dresses – after all, this is not MY grandchild, but still………………….. I white knuckled my grip on the table and stayed in my seat, reminding myself this was not MY daughter’s news.

But, programming is programming, and I have been trained. Besides, I would never be invited to the baby shower – the mother –to -be is 6 states away! (And probably doesn’t even remember meeting me) but that is OK. Maybe just a small gift. One the Grandpa-to-be can appreciate. So, while shopping for bird seed today – I saw this little thing, and I just could not control myself. But programming is programming. I did get the color right.