Completely Clueless

I could not have looked more confused as I stood in the middle of the aisle at Target.

I was looking for a birthday gift for my nephew who's turning eight tomorrow. Should be easy enough. Heck, he even told me what he wanted. A Legos toy or toy soldiers.

But here's the problem.

I have girls. I am COMPLETELY CLUELESS when it comes to buying gifts for little boys. So much so, that until a few years ago Chris was in charge of buying the toys for the boys in our family.

I can't tell a Power Ranger from a Transformer. It's all greek to me.

Need a gift for a girl? I'm on it! I can buy dress-up clothes, princess phones and cell phones with the best of them.

But send me to get a gift for a little boy and I break into a cold sweat.

As I said, he told me what he wanted so it should have been easy enough. But there are just SO MANY LEGOS! Here's the conversation I had with myself as I stared blankly at the rows of Legos before me:

Hmmm, I know he already has Star Wars, so that's out. Although I could get him another one because there are a gazillion Star Wars Legos sets in front of me. No, I better stay away from those just to be safe. Oooh, there's Indiana Jones! I'll get that one. Oh, wait. Those little men are shooting each other. With guns. My sister probably wouldn't like that, although Will will probably think it's cool. Oh, I just don't know. Oh, there's a cool Pirate one! But wait. On the box, they drew in water to make it look like a real Pirate scene. Well that's great for the box, but he CAN'T play with it on water so that one's out! Let's see - there's a police force one. But should I get the one that's shaped like a bizarre spaceship-looking thing or the one that looks like a tank? Wait. There's a cool medieval looking castle set. I'll get it. Boys love building towers. I think.

Next I went to find toy soldiers. I couldn't find those generic toy soldiers we had when we were little (remember - those little green men?). Instead, they had about 4,857 different kinds of little toy soldier-looking figurines. Which one do I get? G.I. Joe is probably a safe bet. But do I get the one that comes with a machine gun or the one with the tank? I CAN'T TAKE THE PRESSURE ANYMORE!!

You know what? Forget the toy soldiers! I'm going back to the Legos section and getting a larger castle. Surely I can't go wrong with that! Can I?

I was so out of my comfort zone. On the way out, I pushed my cart passed the princess aisle. Ahhh, the feeling of being back where you belong.

Ann Catherine apparently feels the same way. Last month, she went with me to Walmart to get a gift for another cousin. As we were choosing between Transformers and Power Rangers, she said, "Mommy, I don't like this boy stuff! Let's go back to the girl stuff!"

My thoughts exactly, sweetie.