on bringing a toddler to IKEA

I have a bit of a weakness for IKEA.  There, I said it.  Most of our things are from thrift stores and rummage sales, or passed on to us from friends and family and I love and appreciate the older, worn items that have real stories attached to them.  Those with a history and a patina developed only through use and the passing of time.

But.  IKEA.  What can I say?

So off we went, Claire and I.

And even with grandma along to provide good company and backup, it turns out that braving IKEA with a 20 month old is no joke.  A serious undertaking.  Ugly even, at times.

Did I really think it could have been any other way?

It probably didn't help that we started our trip a little late and that she didn't sleep on the way as I hoped she would.  Doesn't she know by now that things will go decidedly more smoothly if she sticks to the plans I have in mind?  The "she will sleep all the way there and then hang out happily in the backpack for at least the first half of our journey around the behemoth store" kind of plans.

Well, no.  I suppose she could care less about those plans.  (shouldn't I know that by now?)  And so, after maybe 10 minutes in the backpack, she wanted to walk.  And by walk I mean jump on all of the couches and beds and touch all of the pretty, soft and shiny things (which I kind of did too, but at a noticeably quicker pace) and spin around on all of the little stools.  Et cetera.

Et cetera.

And that's how it came to be 3:15pm before we stopped to eat lunch and found ourselves only halfway through the store.  Now is probably a good time to share that I'd been wanting to get to that big blue box for months and that it's a 2 hour drive from home, 1 from my mom's place.  So I really wanted to be thorough and get the things I was searching for.  So, you know, that kind of made it difficult to do what I probably should have done, which would have been to bail when the going got rough and just head home for crying out loud.

But...... those curtains, that bedding, the inexpensive frames, cute glassware..... not to mention the baskets and all of the wonderful little organizational whatnots, and, and, and......

About the time we hit the textiles Claire hit her wall.  Full flip out mode where she wants to be held until I pick her up and then wants down until I set her down and on and on.  I tried nursing her, tried sitting her in the cart with toys and pencils and paper and snacks.  Nothing helped.  She was tired.  She probably was starting to wonder why on earth we had decided to move into this giant box of a store and if we were ever, ever going to go home.  I could feel my blood pressure rising and my patience beginning to fray.  I looked at my mom and felt like crying and told her I had no idea what to do.  I must have sounded like such a baby.  But you know, when you're stressed and your mama is there....... well, sometimes you just kind of get into that space, don't you?  I know I do.  I tried to get Claire situated and nursing to sleep in my trusty Beco carrier but kept bumping into people or displays and suddenly realized I didn't even know how to get outside if I wanted to and started feeling a tad claustrophobic at that thought.  And she was still kind of flipping out.  Whew.  But we made it.  She passed out for a bit and we were able to finish up and get out of there, each of us in one piece.

Aside from that one (admittedly quite large) glitch, we made the trip into a pretty fun little adventure and I even got most of what I was looking for.  I also left behind something I wish I'd gotten, and brought home a few things I hadn't planned on.  (Uh...... like a lime green plastic 'junior' chair.  Seriously?  Seriously.)  I had my sights set on a nice solid wood one but nope, Claire quite clearly stated her preference for the plastic lime green, made in Italy, "Urban" chair.  So, I did what any good ex-Montessori teacher does.  I followed the child.

The chair totally does not work with the rest of our home decor.  And I think perhaps that was her whole point.  A bit of a lesson for mama.  Along the lines of "It's okay to embrace the brightly colored (fun) children's stuff every now and then.  Lighten up, mama, the world won't fall apart if you buy me something not made of wood."  Or something like that.  She's my little teacher, that sly girl of mine.

(our trip was 2 days ago and as of now that chair has totally and completely grown on me)

I am proud to say that not many other things that weren't on my list made it into my big blue bag.

In her room there is now a dreamy little canopy over a pillowy reading corner, a new table to organize her books and toys, and a cute duvet set complete with bears driving teacups and rabbits driving carrots.  After everyone else was asleep last night (why am I always the last to go to bed?  I really should start turning in earlier...) I sat on her bed enjoying some banana bread and milk (shhhhh) and happily soaked in the signs of my baby becoming a big (little) girl.

One day she might even sleep in there~