Dear Marshall,
We took you shopping at IKEA a few of weeks ago. The trip was notable for two reasons.
First, your father and I had a ton of fun shopping for you. Not to sound ungrateful, but we had received so many baby gifts from others that we missed out on the experience of shopping for you when you were tiny. The goal behind this trip was to get you some shelves, and in that we failed, but we bought lots of other great things for you. We got you an adorable little table and two chairs to go with it, a roll of drawing paper with a stand, and best of all, some soft blocks and a red tent.
You would not believe how hard it is to find simple baby toys like blocks! And it’s so sad, because babies need interactive play, and you’re at such a great age for it! You love to move around, knock things over, chase after things. But most of all, you love having your parents on the floor with you, engaged in play, and the blocks really help. You’re like a baby Godzilla. I build up a tower of blocks, and you knock them down. It’s fun for both of us. I’m so glad that IKEA sells these blocks. They’re soft and washable, and when lined up properly they form a picture of a giraffe on one side and an alligator on another.
And you love your little tent. Sure, you keep on “killing” it. That is, you climb on top of it until it folds up and “dies.” It’s got a tear in it now, and you’ve bent the supports so that it doesn’t open quite as wide as it once did, but who cares? We’ve already gotten our money out of it tenfold. The tent has four mesh “windows.” When you’re sitting in the tent, which we have “pitched” in the dining room, my favorite game is to put my face up to one of the windows and talk to you through it. You get all excited, and then I move to another window, and you’re always so surprised to see my face in a new place. We could play that game all day and you couldn’t get enough.
Second, the trip to IKEA was an exercise in “dealing with Baby outside the house.” I admit it. I’m a chicken. I don’t like to leave the house with you. But at IKEA, everything is easy. From the carts, to the food-prep area in the restaurant, to the family restroom, they’ve deliberately made it a family-friendly place. I wish we had one closer. If we did, maybe we’d go out more often. And I would definitely buy another package of blocks for you so that we could build a tower 8 blocks tall. That’s 2 giraffes tall, if you line them up right!
Love,
Mom