[swd]

Wow, what a difference a couple of days makes!

Thanks for all the insight. Yes, it's none of my business how much money anyone has. But I'm not looking at it for sport. I'm not good at receiving to begin with (I'm with the PP who said she didn't even want a baby shower...), but it's even more uncomfortable that they have done so much already for him, and are buying him toys, and are PAYING FOR MY LUNCH. They can buy him a gift. But two at a time? And paying for my lunch is unnecessary and over the top, IMO. It's NOT about pity. I never said I pity them, and I don't.

It is also partly the values thing. He has a million stuffed animals that people have given him, and he has no interest in them. When he first came to us, he only had one, and loved it. Now it sits with 30+ others and is ignored along with the rest of them. I want him to know the difference between being loved and being spoiled. Receiving a Tickle Me Elmo doesn't make him loved, receiving excellent care and gobs of attention and affection make him loved, and that's what I'd like them to continue with, but they don't see it that way.

Anyhoo, it's really hard to convey my exact feelings about this online, with a 9-month-old demanding my attention, so I'll just say thanks for all your input, and no, I won't tell them not to buy him anything.

With any luck, he'll get to grow up knowing them and their family as part of ours.