Point and shoot

So this weekend, I went to a large chain superstore that sells baby stuff. I won't name it here, but if I say that babies are totally and always us, you know where I went.

I had set up my registry online earlier, so I walked in with friends and they handed me the little registry scan gun. People, fear the scan gun. For it is mighty and awesome.

I spent much of the time there letting one or the other of my friends use the gun; they had so much fun doing so that it seemed mean to keep it all to myself.

The main reason I went there, really, was to look at cribs. They're just all so fancy, but I finally found one with clean lines that won't require me to sell one of my kidneys to purchase it. I'm going to look around a bit more, but I like it.

(Did you know that drop-rail cribs basically don't exist any more, for safety reasons? Who knew. I survived mine, but they're apparently a menace.)

Of course, I had to take a swing through the store and register for stuff while we were there. The biggest realization is how heavily gendered everything is. You can hardly buy a diaper pail without it being pink or blue, people-- it's ridiculous. I like pink. I'd venture to say I love pink. But the little sproglet doesn't need to have Every Single Thing In Her World be pink, or feature a girly pattern. What's wrong with brightly colored, gender neutral patterns? Nothing, except you can't find them.

(Crib bedding, especially, is sharply divided. There's very little that's not way on one end of the gender spectrum or the other.)

I didn't register for everything, as I'm also going to register at Tar*get and they have some things that I couldn't find at the superstore. I also need to hit up Cons*umer Reports and get ratings for car seats, strollers and high chairs, and I didn't see a baby bouncer I liked. So, not nearly done, and at least a few things I'm happy to get used.

There's something very mercenary about the whole "here's the list of stuff I want! Buy it for me!" concept. The only saving grace is that the registry is truly for stuff the sproglet is going to need; there's certainly some fluff on there, but it's largely necessities. So that's something.

Plus, the gun is fun.

***

We have an election here tomorrow. I am not voting until after work, because I need to go online at lunch and figure out who the heck I am voting for. Sigh.