Hoch soll sie Leben!

My darling little "niece" in Germany recently turned 1. As usual, I am far behind schedule in buying and shipping presents. That's 90% due to procrastination, but 10% due to a total lack of a clue as to what I should get for her. So, I turn to you parent-types for some advice: what's a good idea for a present for a one year old? Obviously, she's too young to be the main "target audience", if you will, for the gift, much as the gifts I sent when she was born were bought to please Bettina, not sweet little Milena. My base criteria is that it be a)light, b)easy to ship (not fragile, not perishible, not illegal), and c)not too expensive. It would also be really nice if it were sort of "American"-- that is, something that Bettina can't just run down to Karstadt to buy. Bettina herself spent a month in the US when she was at Gymnasium and has very fond memories of it, so she would appreciate something that seemed especially "American", if that makes any sense.

I'll also throw in a little something for her stepdaughter, who is, if memory serves, 15 years old. Last year, it was a really cool journal with a matching picture album. This year, I bought some different flavored lip balms in a cute box and a dreamcatcher (it just seemed like the kind of thing she'd like), and it seems like there was something else, but now I can't remember. Hopefully that's good, since I have equally little idea how to buy for a 15 year old girl who I don't really know at all.

My God. I just realized that Gela is as old now as I was when I stayed with Bettina. I am so old.