Saturday, December 02, 2006

nephew

My nephew’s birthday was yesterday and we are going to go see him this weekend. I always dread giving him presents. Not because I am a miser or anything. He just never seems to like what I get him. I got him a really neat present last year for Christmas (well I thought it was neat). He was going through a dinosaur phase and he had recently told me he wanted to be an archaeologist. So I bought him this dinosaur replica encased in stone that you had to chisel out and then assemble the pieces. Did this not meet the two criteria of his life ambition and his favorite toy? Well he looked at me like I just gave him coal. Then he tossed the thing over his shoulder and I never saw the thing again. This year for his birthday I got him Yo Guio cards. I have no idea what these things are or even how to spell the damn thing, but he said he wanted them. I gave up trying to figure out what he would want. My nieces are so much easier. I always hit a home run and I never have to ask them what they are into. Maybe it is the whole girl buying for a girl thing. All I know is I just spent a lot of money on little things that look like baseball cards and he better not just toss them over his shoulder.

1 comment:

Mrs. R said...

We're going through something similar with the husband's cousin. He'll be 15 in January.

Zigzag always wants to get him educational stuff - books, chemistry sets, telescopes. etc. - but what I keep trying to tell him is that as kids get older, they seem to know exactly what they want for birthdays or xmas. So you can either get them something awesome and educational - and watch them toss it over their shoulder - or you can get them exactly what they want, knowing it will not contribute to their development as a human being on any level but feeling satisfied that at least they will be sincere when they say thank you.

(Just don't ever give him money. There's nothing I hate more than giving kids money. I'm not sure why, but it really bugs me.)