Ok, if the most you were used to preparing is a microwavable frozen dinner and you were having a professional chef and her husband over for dinner one night, what would you serve? It looks like I’m going to be in that position this coming weekend. Yikes! Time to crack open the cookbooks!

I entered Sam’s page in the Top 100 Baby Pages contest. If you like it, please vote for it

?Robert,? I said, ?I?m going to buy Sammy a piano.?

?You?re what????

?I?m going to buy Sammy a piano,? I repeated patiently. Moments later, it dawned on me why he seemed so disturbed by this information. He probably thought I was going to buy Sammy a real piano. After all, I had been going on about how much I?d like one myself. It?s been a couple of years since I played and I miss having a cathartic outlet such as that.

?No, no, silly. I?m going to buy him a toy piano, you know, a little plastic one??

?Oh,? he exhaled. I could see the tension drain out of him.

Piano shopping is not an easy business. There are all sorts to choose from, fancy electronic ones that make a variety of sounds (I was really impressed with one on which you could play ?Mary Had a Little Lamb? using different pitches of bleating sheep.) to mechanical versions which produce clear ringing sounds by causing little hammers to strike metal plates. Some had fat keys. Others had skinny keys. Some only spanned four notes. Others encompassed a full octave.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed, I chose the four-key mechanical version. I thought it would be nice to have at least one toy which doesn?t require batteries. I don?t regret that part of my decision; however, I do wish I had chosen one that spanned a full octave. Now that I?m thinking more clearly about it, I believe a larger keyboard would capture Sammy?s interest for a longer period of time than the one I chose, since you can?t even play a recognizable tune on it. Oh well, when Sammy outgrows this one, I?ll buy him a 9 foot concert grand. That should keep him busy for a few years, at least!