All presents of musical instruments for preschoolers slide mysteriously under the couch where they are rediscovered at six month intervals and not before.

I was thinking it would make a good present to hide until the new baby comes so that we can distract him with a new toy while all of our attention goes to his sister.

We're definitely riding a bit of a nice streak with Baby Pi, lisah's wedding, Erin's new job and even Kathy's surgery.

Wait. You got a call that said, "Please hold for the Provost's secretary?"

Yep. Well actually, it was "do you have a minute to talk to ___"

My sister just texted me asking to buy my 11yo nephew a Kindle.

My 11yo daughter could use a Nook or Kindle (probably Nook for checking out from the library), maybe then her bed wouldn't be constantly covered with books.

Hey, Tom, can you buy me a Cintiq? It doesn't even have to be the big one. TIA!

My sister emailed me, wanting to know if we should both pitch in to buy our mom a Kindle or a Nook! Good lord, apparently it's the gift of the season.

Oh, David, it's time for my annual question about what I should give my cousin for Christmas. He's a year younger than Emmett, and I like to give him books...

Emmett had to read Ender's Game at school and really liked it. Also, there's a new Wimpy Kid book out. If he likes video games and doesn't have it already the Harry Potter Lego game is very fun and engaging for a long time.

Emmett also likes humor books. Things like the Suicidal Bunnies book. Also, he has the Calvin & Hobbes complete set and re-reads that regularly.

If he's into that kind of comic strip stuff there are a couple of cool vintage comic collections that came out. I have and enjoy Classic Children's Comics edited by Art Spiegelman.

If that's too young, you could try some graphic novels depending on his interest. If he's into Batman try something like The Long Halloween.

If he's even more sophisticated there's an XKCD collection out now.

My 13-year-old niece got a Kindle for her birthday. My brother thought he was so cool, uploading Deathly Hallows for her, "for just $1.59!" I told him that had to be a sale or something, that all books were not that cheap.

Turned out to be the CliffsNotes. Heh.

They're very pretty.

Billions of congratulations, Nilly! I'm totally weepy with excitement and joy for you, the Khusband, and the second-luckiest almost-baby in the world (Jessica's has precedence, but once she emerges and cedes her almost-crown for an actual, the almost- goes straight to your boy).

You're going to be an amazing parent. And I can't wait to read your spicy Nillybrain thoughts on that amazement. If you could make us all gasp and blub over a single episode of Firefly, I cannot imagine where your mind and heart and words will take us all when you're watching a tiny human discover the entire universe. (Not that there's any pressure on you -- seriously, all you have to do is be Nilly and that's enough.)