Need gift opinions for a friend who is adopting a 2 year old girl

[peanut4us]

This family has 3 boys and the parents. We've been pretty close to them until they moved about 4 months ago. I want to do something for her in the $50 range.

they are adopting a 2 year old year with a severe heart defect and who will be undergoing open heart surgery by the end of the summer. I know they will be strapped for cash after that, so I am trying to figure out... do I go for something fun for the girl like cute clothes or something like that... or do I go more practical and if so what... any ideas?

[hjdong]

I had a friend whose daughter had heart surgery at about this age (I know you're not necessarily thinking about the surgery but this does, I think, apply) and I got her a little lap desk with a bunch of crayons, play-doh, books, coloring books, etc. The little girl will most likely spend a long time (for a baby) having to be calm and still. They really appreciated the gift - she used it a lot during recovery.

As one who has recently adopted a almost two year old, I would suggest if you're going to buy clothes, be sure you buy something which is useable over a long time range. For example, where we live, shorts are worn for 3/4 of the year. Because we adopted Jamie in the winter, we got a lot of winter clothes, which didn't fit him and will be too small by next year. We had a huge heat wave two weeks after getting home and had to run out and buy shorts. Chances are a two year old with a heart defect will be small for her age.

HTH,