This morning when O woke up she said, "Mommy, for my birthday (two months away) I want a Lite Brite just like the one Meme and Lina have.  We played with it at their house yesterday and it was so cool.  There's these little colored plastic pointy things that you have to put inside the holes.  It was so much fun.  But mommy, I want a different Lite Brite than theirs.  I want it to look exactly the same but I want it to come with the 'turn on' batteries."  

I waited to see if she had more to say before responding with all of my own personal experiences about Lite Brite's.  She didn't.  I told her about the coveted Lite Brite my friend, Sheri had.  I wanted one so badly.  Of course, my mom always told me they were nothing but a fire starter.  

I remember being five and wondering why anyone would ever make a toy that started a fire.  Of course, I never questioned the real Christmas tree we wrapped with electric lights that we put up before Christmas and left up until January 13, King Knut's Day, a Swedish tradition.  Oh but that wasn't a fire starter, nah!  Be as it may, I never got a Lite Brite or an  Easy Bake oven for that matter.  My little brother did though and if there's one kid that shouldn't have had "fire starters" as a child it would have been that kid.  This is the same kid who somehow managed to set off his whole bag of fireworks "accidently" three years in a row!
  
I told O that there is a strong possiblity that Nana might have my brother's Lite Brite in her basement.  O asked if that Lite Brite would have batteries that "turned on".  It was about that time that I realized our 1970-ish Lite Brite plugged into an electrical outlet, no batteries needed.  I shuttered at the thought that children of the 1970's were plugging in Lite Brites at a young age.  Maybe my mom had a point.  

If my mom did have one in her basement, I could always cut the cord and O could still use the pointy things to make a picture.  So I said, "But O, even though Lina and Meme's Lite Brite didn't turn on, didn't you still have fun with their Lite Brite?"  She nodded, rolled her eyes and said, "That doesn't matter, mommy.  I can have more fun with one that really works."  Kindergarten SUCKS!