Forever the baby of the family

My third child lives with both a fair amount of neglect and four other immediate family members frequently doting on her. She watches more tv than her sisters ever did, still walks around with a binky in her mouth most of the time and is so far removed from being potty trained that she calls the potty her pet turtle.  She is two and half and is taking her role as baby of the family very seriously.  When asked if she’s a big girl, she responds with, “No. I just a baby.  I the baby.”

I go through phases of guilt since I don’t have her signed up for any play groups or music classes so she winds up spending a lot of time at home with me.  And, with the exception of some play doh or paint and the occasional book or puzzle, I’m not really great at playing with toddlers and, honestly, don’t really enjoy it.  I can hang much better with infants or people over six - those years in between, not so much my forte; ergo, the lack of potty training or binky removal.  

We do spend a lot of time together having snacks and eating long, three course lunches.  Little miss A is obsessed with food and can more or less eat non-stop in between sleeping.  Hot cocoa is a favorite staple around here, or our version of the drink which is lukewarm milk with a squirt of chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top.  

Despite all the sugar from our daily cocoa fests, her whacked out brain from all the tv watching and her soon to be gnarly teeth from the binky sucking, I feel as if, in many ways, she is turning out to be the best of the bunch.  She’s independent, yet affectionate, funny and creative, and loves to wrestle while in her ballerina outfit.  

As my father in law once told me, “A healthy dose of neglect does a child good.”

The Lost Art of Re-gifting

While perusing a gift shop in downtown Wayne, I caught this exchange.  

A woman walks in with a bag, puts it on the counter:
Woman:Is this from your shop?
Owner: No, that’s not our bag.
Woman: Do you know where these bags come from?
Owner: No, I wish I could help you, but I don’t know who uses that particular bag.  
Woman: Oh, that’s too bad.  I was really hoping it came from here.  It’s a necklace that someone gave me and I have to return it.  
She takes out the necklace and displays it on the counter.
I’m so disappointed in the person who gave it to me.  I really thought she knew me better than this.
Owner: Why don’t you tell her that you love the necklace and would like to get matching earrings, then ask her where she bought it, so you can return it for something you like.

Searching for the Jonsbo Ilsbo

Today I took a trip to the local Ikea in search of a small, inexpensive lamp.  I know that many people find Ikea to be annoying - hard to navigate, cheap furniture, overwhelmingly large, and, for a while (after leaving my Ikea decorated studio apartment in Manhattan) I, too, tried to ban all things Ikea from my “real” home.  In part the ban had to do with the fact that my husband was almost incapable of putting the stuff together, and I only got married so that someone else would be responsible for putting the stuff together or fixing the broken stuff.  

But I am now back on the Ikea bandwagon.  It’s just a great place to find all sorts of little household goodies, AND there’s free childcare.  As an aside, back in the day before my youngest daughter came into our family, I was a college teacher and I would go to Ikea on my days off, put the kids in the fun room, go up to the cafeteria, drink coffee and grade papers for an hour.  Don’t worry, I always bought something in exchange for the babysitting. I didn't totally take advantage.

Our little miss A is still too small for the fun room (note to self, get platform shoes for the two year old for future Ikea trips), so she stuck with me as we strolled through the immense warehouse (which counts as my aerobic exercise for the day week)  Part of the appeal of Ikea is the presentation: they make you want new kitchen utensils,

or fun lamps like these,

or these,

or this...

And no one cares if you child is running around like a maniac, climbing on furniture or man handling the candles.  In fact, I’m not sure why there aren’t more toddler play dates organized at Ikea.  Our trips always end with lunch for under five bucks including frozen yogurt.

But my favorite part of the Ikea shopping trip is being able to say that I got the Jonsbo Ilsbo for my living room, which I think looks sharp against the green walls.

I also picked up three stalks of bamboo which are very feng shui.  They should bring me happiness.  It's that easy.