Bewlay's Wish List

Friends and family often ask us what gifts would be appropriate for Bewlay - what things she might like. In all honesty, she does not need anything at all. So, please don't feel compelled to give her anything, but if you do give her something, please don't go overboard. She tends to appreciate smaller things best and can get overwhelmed by receiving too much.

• Books - A few of these are books Bewlay has never seen which we think she would like, but actually, most of them are ones she has had before and loved, but which have somehow been destroyed. She gets very attached to her books, and she misses them when they're gone, so these would really be big hits.
  • Sticker books with animal themes. She has a particular affinity for cat stickers.
  • Splish Splash Jigsaw Rhymes (ISBN 1-58728-022-1) - This one, in particular, is a favorite, and she would love a new copy. There are actually three other books like this one: Here We Go, Spots and Stripes, and Tasty Treats. She would love any of those as well, but we believe that Splish Splash would be her favorite.
  • Baker, Baker, Cookie Maker (ISBN 0-375-80818-3). Bewlay rode this book hard and put it up wet. Our copy is tattered, shredded, and still continues to be loved. I can imagine that Bewlay would be over the moon to get a new, unsullied one.
  • Swish, Swish, Who's This? (ISBN 1-58925-686-7) by Caroline Davis. She has this and ADORES it, but it is wearing out.
  • One, Two, Who's Who? (ISBN 1-58925-685-9) by Caroline Davis. We think she would love this one because of how much she loves Swish, Swish (above).
  • Maisy at the Fair (ISBN 0-7636-1502-1) by Lucy Cousins. She destroyed our copy of this one.
  • Maisy Big, Maisy Small (ISBN 0-7636-3406-9) by Lucy Cousins
  • Maisy's Snowy Christmas Eve (ISBN 0-7636-2196-X) by Lucy Cousins - A Christmas favorite that she destroys every year.
  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar (ISBN 0-3992-2690-7) by Eric Carle - She loved this book until it died, and she has activities that go along with it (but the activities are kind of useless until we replace the book)
  • The Runaway Bunny (ISBN 3-6121-6211-3) by Margaret Wise Brown. She has destroyed our copy of this one.
  • Sturdily constructed lift-the-flap books. Please avoid the ones where the flap is glued on at its edge instead of incorporated into the page construction.
  • Alphabet themed books; Counting books
  • Virtually any books that play electronic music. In particular, she loves a book that one of her therapists has called Silly Songs (IISBN 0-7853-0054-6)
• Charities - If you would like to give a charitable donation in Bewlay's name, these are some that affect her or that we think she would particularly appreciate :
  • The United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation
  • The Autism Society of North Carolina (Please specifiy donations to the Mecklenburg County Chapter.)
  • Levine Children's Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC
  • The Ronald McDonald House Charities
  • Any zoo
  • The World Wildlife Fund (She loves many animals for which WWF works.).
• Character Gear - We're not big fans of syndicated stuff, but Bewlay does love a few characters:
  • Maisy and Panda (and really any of the others) from the Lucy Cousins books about Maisy and her friends
  • The Pooh characters (especially Pooh and Piglet). Note: it is generally best to give Bewlay "pairs." The pairs can be logical (like Pooh and Piglet) or not (like a flower whistle and a toy dog), but two small things are definitely more loved than one big one. If the pair can easily be held together in her hands so she can gaze into their eyes, so much the better!
• Clothes - With over 20 older cousins, Bewlay has tons of clothing treasures handed down to her. She does not have much need for clothes. However, if you are just dying to buy clothes, here are her current sizes:
  • Shirts - Somewhere between size 10 and 12
  • Dresses - Around size 8 to 10
  • Pants - Something between a 8 and a 10
  • Shoes - Size 2

    Please be mindful of the fact that if there are small decorative buttons, sparkles, rhinestones, etc. on the clothing, Bewlay is likely to bite them off and possibly to swallow them. So please avoid those things whenever possible.  Typical, normal fasteners do not often suffer this fate.

• Movies (DVD only, please)- Bear in mind that she tends to watch snippets that are 2-5 minutes long over and over. Please don't expect her to sit through a whole movie to watch it and appreciate it. She loves watching movies, but she doesn't watch them the way you or I do.
  • Disney's movie Dinosaurs. She sees a preview for this one one of her other movies and really loves the preview.
  • Brother Bear

• Practical Stuff - Bewlay could use a few LED nightlights (She eats lightbulbs, so LED is really the only option.).
• Toys -
• Pairs of small animals (Please see note under Character Gear - Pooh, above.). Any kind of animals will thrill her - farm, safari, pets, marine,... She loves both plush animals and squeezy little rubber ones (like bathtub toys).
• Jigsaw puzzles - Animal themes are usually best. Interlocking jigsaw puzzles are more appropriate than peg puzzles, and wooden ones last much longer here (She sometimes eats cardboard pieces.). Up to 36 pieces or so, but easier ones are okay, too. There's a series of Maisy puzzles that Amazon is selling now. Bewlay loves these. An example can be found here. They're put out by a company called Maple Landmark, and the only one that Bewlay already has is Maisy Making Music.
• Very, very simple turn-taking and matching games.
• Things that spin, light up, make electronic sounds or music (e.g., kaleidoscopes, toy instruments, tops).
• Visually stimulating toys (like the magic wands with moving glitter inside). For example, when I was a child, we had a "Magic Window," which was a flat panel with contrasting shades of volcanic sand inside. Moving the "window" caused the sand colors to separate, intermingle, and make pretty designs. That would be a good toy for Bewlay.
• Textured toys like Koosh balls, Phlat balls, squishy, squeezy rubber stuff. Please, nothing with toxic contents or separable contents like Play-Doh or Moon Sand.
• If you are really looking for something bigger for her, she would love an electronic keyboard.

  Last updated on October 18, 2008 at 2:45 PM.