Okay, so I skipped lunch. Fueled only by coffee and a chocolate truffle shaped like a pig (it was a big truffle), I headed out the road to Short Pump in search of light-up duckies.
The princess was telling me about a baby shower she'd just been to. One of the gifts was a set of duckies with LEDs inside which flicker in a multicolored pattern at a touch to the electrodes on their bottoms. "They're from Nordstrom. Only $12! I was telling Mountain Man [the husband] about them and he said, 'Those sound like something you'd like.' So I'm going to go get some."
Coincidentally enough, Oz and I will be going to a baby shower in less than two weeks.
So. Quest for duckies. We'll also get them something practical.
I found the duckies pretty quickly amongst all the highly gendered baby clothes (you can dress your kid in anything as long as it's a blue bear or a pink bunny) (only a slight exaggeration) (well, they had blue bunnies too).
The label says "Ages 3 and up."
Obviously these are for parents. No way will the power cell last three years till the kid is old enough to play with them. But very cute! The salesgirl said, "Oh, these are like the new hot baby gift. We are selling them like crazy!"
The Animal Squirters (insanely cute little rubber animals that squirt water) have no age label, so I grabbed a pack of those too. They're too big to choke on and we'll just hope there's no lead in the paint. If we buy a car seat, that'll cancel out the foolishness of the toys, right?
If you too go out looking for duckies, be sure to check out the great big saltwater aquarium in the Nordstrom baby department.
Then, with my Nordstrom shopping bag over my arm, I ventured out into the mall. Even though I hate shopping. But the mall is there and I am there, so I might as well look around.
I found a sale at Ann Taylor. I got a pair of slacks and a sweater at 70% off.
Instead of quitting while I was ahead, I went around looking for more baby stuff. Great color choices: pink or blue. Sheesh. This is the rich people mall. You'd think they'd have variety instead of unending bi-chromatic blandness. Where are the monkeys? That's what I want to know. A not-pink or not-blue onesie with monkeys on it? That's too much to ask from the mall.
It's not too much to ask from Google though. In 0.11 seconds I found a flying monkey onesie, sock monkey onesie, and monkey-including offerings from the Funky Monkey Baby Boutique.
Fight the pink and blue hegemony. Shop online. Not that you have a choice.
469 words | August 15, 2007 11:20 PM | WiredYellow. At least when we were looking for baby stuff, that was the neutral color.
Elephants and giraffes were pretty common. Monkeys, not so much, unless you want to get licensed Georges.
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner at August 16, 2007 03:47 AMYeah, yellow and white. So the kid can look like a fried egg? I did see a onesie with lions and a onesie with sheep, but that's about it. Not even any green frogs.
It's disappointing to see such a limited color palette. And the pink onesie printed with "Does this diaper make my butt look big?" Gah! Does the self-hatred have to start that young?
Do you think the disappearance of the gender neutral layette is related to the fact that most people know the gender of the baby before they start buying clothes?
ETA: Target has a fairly good selection of cute non-sexist baby things. Green froggy, cute jungle animals (even monkeys!), multi-colored polka dots, and "Classic Pooh." However, the parents-to-be for whom I'm shopping registered at another big box store for "Disney Pooh" and we can't be having Pooh clash.
Posted by: 100 word minimum at August 16, 2007 11:27 AMI never go to Short Pump or Stoney Point if I actually want to buy something. It never works out. And there are - as you point out - so many more options online. But Stoney Point, at least, has a nice atmosphere, the traffic is not insane, and they let you play with all the gadgets at Sharper Image and Brookstone. Fun for all! The layette issue can be solved at Target and Kohls, as you also point out. What possessed you to go to Nordstrom's? Oh, that's right, LED duckies.
Posted by: Camron at August 21, 2007 08:28 AMYeah, the ducks. Which are very cute. And if I hadn't gone to Nordstrom, I wouldn't have gone into Ann Taylor and found those clothes marked down. I have an immediate need for those clothes too, so this shopping trip was quite a success.
I agree that Stoney Point is a more pleasant mall to walk around. It looks like that's mostly what people do there. The stores are pretty much empty.
Posted by: 100 word minimum at August 21, 2007 11:04 AM