Since it's that time of year, my ex and I are trying to stay coordinated on the gift-giving front.  For me, that's actually pretty easy - I don't do much gifting, so only have to tell him what I'm getting so he can work around it.  

In years past, though, that unspoken carte blanche has caused, um, problems.  Did both kids need to get a laser alarm system to carve out invisible territories in their shared room?  Um, no.  And I'd have called an ix-nay on some of those talking, walking, wiggling devices back in the day.  Then there was the sheer overwhelming volume, leading to my  "we have no room so could you keep it at Dad's house already?' constant refrain that always, always fell on deaf ears.  

But they're getting older.  They like smaller, more complicated gifts that have volume controls and/or can be used with headphones, thankfully.  So I thought maybe we were out of the woods - until I got this phone call this evening:

Hi!  What size shoe does the nine year old girl wear again? We're thinking of buying her a pair of heelies...unless you'd rather we didn't, of course...

Oh, hell YEAH I didn't. See, I'd already told my nine year old (who must have put them on her wishlist over at Dad's house) that she was absolutely, positively, NEVER EVER getting heelies.  I'm not a big fan - plus I know my constantly jittery child with poor impulse control would not be able to resist the urge to use them when she shouldn't.  

Luckily, he agreed with my decision without question - even though I provided him with no rationale or reasoning at the time (I was in a meeting and speaking sotto voce in the back of the room.)  

But the real victory here?  He called first to check with me.

Now, here's hoping the nine year old never finds out just how close she came to getting her heart's desire...!