Look how it all ties together here! Someone commented a few days back about
how obnoxious those Furby things are, and someone else was talking about
having their toddlers request Mommy to nurse all the little toys & stuffed
animals (yes, indeed it's a high compliment to the Power of Mother!). My
step-daughter got a Furby for Christmas (for those of you who may not know,
these are little stuffed animal-type things that talk in their own language
and demand to be petted), and I have to say that it has a beak-like little
mouth that certainly wouldn't make anyone inclined to nurse it! I'd run the
other way, protectively shielding my nipples!

It seems so peculiar to me that a kid would want a toy that speaks in a
"real" voice - it even comes with a little dictionary so you can translate
what it says!. Seems to me that the whole point of the various stuffed
creatures you have when you're a kid is that YOU can make them say or be or
do anything you want them to. All my dolls had distinct personalities and
voices and preferences, but part of what made them so wonderful to me was
that they were all in my imagination. I would have found it really offensive
to have one of them start making noises on its own, or only able to say what
it had been programmed to say! My own kids (older than my step-kids) never
had these kind of noisy independent toys either, and find the Furby thingies
really repulsive.

Does this mean that I'm old now?

Cathy Bargar - who may sound like a curmudgeon sometimes, but will freely
admit that it's easier to buy Christmas presents for little kids than for
young adults!