Will Gymboree still love me back?

I love Gymboree, I really do. My kids have worn more and more of it since they outgrew their legacy layette, which was almost embarrassingly luxe due to their having an aunt-in-law (I think) who reps lines like Petite Bateau and Giesswein (they came into the world owning $200 coats!) I occasionally go a little mental over one of the lines or a particular piece, as with this one:

(No, that isn’t hedgehog poo! What’s wrong with you? They’re adorable little paw prints.) that I’ve bought in three sizes so far and will probably keep buying until eBay runs out of sizes or Avi wakes up one morning declaring an unshakable horror of Erinaceinae.

I do get to wondering sometimes, though, about the thought process that leads their designers to settle on one theme over another, equally appealing or in some cases, equally odd. Most are just renamed versions of perennial hits, of course, since how many ways can you really say “It’s autumn!” or “Gramma, doesn’t this sailor dress inspire a compelling faux-nostalgia for more innocent times? “ Night Forest = A walk In the Woods = My Little Treehouse; Wish You Were Here = Little Skipper = Bon Voyage. This is not rocket surgery. Badgers, though? Badgers, really?

Avi just grew into this one, and I love it (I had to have it for various personal reasons, my undying love for badgersbadgersbadgers chief among them), but when I caught sight of him in it today it gave me a bit of a start. Badgers aren’t cute! Badgers are weasels. Nasty, flesh-ripping weasels. What kind of a person dresses her sweet child up in weasels?

The kind who’d buy these Gymboree lines we’ll never see, I suppose:

Winter:
The Little Match Girl
Baby Seal Hunt
Make Mine Mink
Red, Red Wine

Spring:
Daddy's New Apartment
Sneezy Season
In The Orphanage
Boys in Bobby-Sox

Summer:
Worms and Sidewalks
Mosquito Ridge
Amish Adorable
Under The Boardwalk

Fall:
Always Picked Last
Measles, Mumps, Rubella
Los Caprichos

… and my favorite, Carny Time!

A special prize (don’t know what yet) goes to anyone who comes up with some graphics.

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