Christmas shopping

Alyssa has informed me that she knows what she wants to ask for for Christmas this year. Good thing to know in August! Okay, I'll bite - what is it?

"A laptop!"

What does she need a laptop for???

"So I can do my homework in the car."

I explained to her that third graders probably don't need a computer to do their homework (for the most part anyway) and they certainly don't need to do it in the car, especially when we have about a 5 minute commute to and from school. Maybe she was thinking of those far away, 15 minute drives to soccer games, I don't know.

So a little later she came back saying she wanted the laptop to play games. Once again, Mommy was ready to shoot her down, telling her to remember that we have a regular computer, a GameBoy, a Leapster, and a Playstation 2, all of which are for playing games (and she barely ever uses them).

Away she went again. But her last try got me. She ran up to me to say she really knew what she needed a laptop for. And what is that?

"Shopping online!"