I'm thinking about having my friend's 11 year old move in with us. It seems she brings out the gentleman in Heath. First thing he wanted to do this morning was go downstairs and stare at her. Then he quickly came running into our bedroom, ever-so-politely asking, Mom, I'd like to change my clothes, could you help me with that, please? If I could count the times, the screams, the agony of trying to get him to get out of his pajamas, well, there would be many. But sweet Beatrix floated down from an angelic cloud and got Heath to realize that sometimes, it's pretty nice to just go ahead and get dressed for the day.
Family and friends that run together, stay together. So after breakfast we got everyone loaded up in the strollers. Heath went in our single jogger, and Stella and Lucie teamed up in the double. My friend and Bee made it an excellent mile, and Shea came along with us for the rest of the jaunt.
If going to the zoo wasn't insane enough, we decided to go to the zoo of retail, Ikea. I've never been to an Ikea before. Our friends needed a lamp, and I figured I could get a much-needed laundry basket to replace what can only be described as disgusting current deal I was using,and I could finally see what all the fuss is about. I thought we could include a visit to Reedy Creek Park after our shopping extravaganza, as sort of a treat to the kiddies for being troopers with having to spend some time on a Sunday restlessly wandering around Scandinavian furniture and accessories.
The fuss about Ikea. Turns out it is the kind of place that sucks the thinking-ability right out of me as soon as I go through the electric doors. It's bright. It's enormous. It's loud. There are a billion people roaming. Half of those billion people have at least one child in a stroller. And there were items, everywhere. The walls were covered with frames and mirrors and sheets and towels. Rugs hung from ceilings. Fixtures were lit. It was so overwhelming, I can't even recall what I saw, because I couldn't look at any one thing for longer than a millisecond. In situations like this, I pretty much become a walking zombie. And with two children, losing keen focus is not a good thing.
After a blurry, foggy-headed twenty minutes, we wound up somewhere around a bunch of sofas with multiple unhappy children, who only wanted to bounce and jump on the couches, so we decided to throw caution to the wind and throw three of the four children down into what was called Smallville. (I don't think it was called Smallville, but that's what I kept calling it in my head. Small-land, maybe?) We figured Stella was the least of our Nordic lighting and stinky laundry holder decision-making trouble, so the men took the other three down to Smalltown, while the ladies came very close to finding a couple of dressed ASPELUND and RYKENE bed frames and taking a little snooze, while the trusty folks of Ikea watch our kids.
Turns out Bee was two inches too tall to get into Smallidelphia, but Heath and Lucie were able to come into the child's dungeon. I periodically went to check on them. Heath was engrossed in watching Chicken Little and Lucie was sitting in a pit of balls. Another quick check found Heath still engrossed in watching the movie, only this time he was sitting between a couple of girls, and Lucie was still swimming through the plastic ball wading pool.
It also turns out that Stella is quite capable of making it difficult to inch your way through the kitchen section. An innocent bounce on a BIRKELAND bed frame with a little fella wearing a monkey backpack ended with a hair pulling episode. She went AWOL multiple times. And when she pulled on my bag, saying, 'nack, 'nack, 'nack, I found myself, for the first time in her short history, completely out of snacks. (Good thing Ikea has a ginormous cafeteria available. Stella got a cookie. Not just any cookie. Swedish SWINGOLLA cookie.)
Finally, we found our laundry basket, the SKUBB, (and it is quite a fun little two compartment deal), and our friends found what they were looking for, we headed back to Smallboro and gathered up both children who were now both lying on each other, glued to Chicken Little.
As soon as we got back outside, I melted back into being able to think again. And off we went to Reedy Creek Park and I am so, so glad we did.
Little did I know, a week ago the Natural Explorer Zone opened by the Nature Center, and it was a child's dream come true. Outdoor xylophones, a playhouse shaped like a birdhouse, log balance beams, grapevine arbors. A sandbox (or American Indian dig site) full of bones and shark-teeth for archaeological digging. And the biggest hit was called the Messy Material area with bamboo poles for fort building and fabric. I think the fabric could be used to make the fort, but our kiddies wrapped the material around their necks for some cape-flying/day-saving.
The friend crew heads out tomorrow. We will be a sad Ropko bunch, missing our adventuresome pals.
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