Head games for Mother's Day

I've already mentioned previously that Hubby is...not the best at gift giving.  He says I never give him any ideas for what a good gift would be.  I can't fully blame him, though, since his mother is notorious for misreading hints as to what gift would be appreciated.  The year I got a large bangle bracelet for Christmas because MIL didn't understand what "chunky, chain/charm style bracelet" meant (and she says the jewelry clerk didn't know either) showed me how the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

When Hoss was born, I started talking about getting a mother's ring.  Hubby just looked at me blankly. 

"A mother's ring," I explained.  "Where you have a stone for each child, sometimes with the parents' birthstones as well, but not necessarily.  So, mine would have a nice setting with an alexandrite, and now that this one's made his appearance, we know that the other stone would be an amethyst."

So, Mother's Day 2001 came and went, with no ring, as did our anniversary a month later.  After my birthday and Christmas 2001 passed with no ring, I started shopping.  I'd point them out to Hubby when I saw designs in catalogs.  I'd remind him that a mother's ring would mean a lot to me, what with having something special about both of my children and all.  I had discussions with family members and friends, and those who already had rings would show them to Hubby, those who wanted rings described the ones they were coveting.

Mother's Day 2002 was fast approaching.  In exasperation, a few days before Mother's Day, Hubby asked me what I wanted, since he claimed to have no idea what a good Mother's Day gift would be.

"I've been asking for a mother's ring for every gift giving occasion for the past 15 months," I replied.  "Is there a holiday other than Mother's Day that is the right one to give it?"  So, he decided that he would go out in the weeks following, and order me a ring.  It would be a combination gift for Mother's Day and our anniversary.  The ring was delivered in mid-June, and we packed the family in the car to go visit the jeweler.  The two stones nestled nicely together, the alexandrite changing from green to purple (depending on how the light hit), nicely complementing the amethyst. 

Ironically enough, the delivery of the ring, the ring that I asked for because we had just had our second child and we had our nice balanced family, and we were done having kids, coincided with me getting pregnant with Lil Joe.  As in, we picked up the ring on Saturday morning, and Sunday was established as the estimated date of conception.  Heh.  It took another year and a half after Joe was born before Hubby got around to getting the aquamarine added to the ring.

If only Hubby had know how to get in my head.   This site is the ultimate in wishlisting.  Not only can you make a itemized wishlist, which is great by any account, but you can keep an updated profile of your sizes and preferences.  Want to make note that you like certain spa treatments?  There's a place for that.  Want to list your favorite stores, restaurants, authors, actor, whatever?  Done.  Those lists and opportunties for explanation will prevent a situation in which your love for, say, baking break from scratch while you study for finals (y'know, taking out your frustrations on the dough, then using the one hour rising time to bone up on the Khubler-Ross stages of grief) results in you getting a bread maching that doesn't have strong enough paddle to mix the ingredients.  Not that I ever had that happen to me or anything.  And you (or your significant other) can plug in important dates and reminder intervals.  I set up my profile, and it asked for an email for Hubby.  He can set the reminders (or I can do it for him...)so that our anniversary, my birthday, and other major events don't get forgotten. 

And lest you think that I'm a sexist, man-bashing pain in the ass, there's a "Get in His Head" side of the site, too.  So, by filling out his profile, Hubby never has to hear me nag him for his size, etc., when my mother is doing the Christmas shopping.  And anything that cuts out nagging on my part and mistake gifts all around is a very good thing.

Check out the round-up of other gift posts (best and worst) at Parent Bloggers Network.  PBN, in conjunction with GetInHerHead, are sponsoring a contest (and, hopefully, improving some people's chances at getting the perfect gift!)

Comments

[Cole]

Kate felt the same way when I gave her the (probably same one you got) bread maker. How the heck was I supposed to know about the mixing speeds?

I'm glad your Hubby and I were cut from the same cloth. There are a lot of us out there and, hopefully, GetinHerHead.com will help!

Thanks for the great post!