IKEA (the huge, Swedish furniture and home goods store, full of nifty little things and colorful designs) is in my neighborhood (within 35 miles from me).
This last weekend I decided to spend a Sunday afternoon -Miss Haana and I - browsing at ikea. The intention was to look at some kitchen items, but that was just a vague idea. The trip was essentially a browsing and hangout trip.
That turned out to be right on the money. As soon as we got in, we hit the sofa and arm chair section. We tried different sofas to see if we like them. Miss Haana got all comfortable (sitting with legs crossed) on one sofa and decided she wanted to color. Then I spotted a basket full of little furry brown puppy dogs (soft toys only - thank God!- no offense dogs!) Next to the basket was a small baby arm chair and a adult sized arm chair. At the blink of an eye, little Haana and I placed ourselves with a puppy dog on her lap, she on the baby arm chair, I next to her on a Mumma armchair.
We spent an unspecified amount of time on the baby and Mumma arm chair; till I lured the little girl to more hidden treasures within the store.
We snaked through the TV tables' section, the entertainment section, the dining. Miss Haana found another small chair, took off her sandals and got all cozy and refused to move. When I protested, I was told the puppy dog was sleeping so I needed to be nice!
I finally did the needful- which is- wait around for a little bit to see if the situation changed, then keep her sandals in the backpack and grab her in my arms and quickly walk to another section.
We made it to the bed and bedding section. We found one bed with a huge (Mumma) dog. We laughed about it for a little bit, but before she could climb into the bed, I whisked her forward - there was a kid section coming up from with princess beds!!
We sifted though several other sections till we came to the real deal! The kids' section! A Spider-Man bed, bug bed, colorful beds all around. The little girl made her pick and walked towards it. She looked back at me with a questioning "Is it ok!" look. I said "Yes". She immediately took off her sandals on the rug next to the bed. Took her new found puppy dog. Climbed into the bed. Straightened the blankets. Put the doggie to sleep and covered him in blankets. Then very cool intention, lay down next to the doggie on the pillow and tucked herself in to bed. The fellow customers passing by, gave me the "Oh so cute!" looks with giggles and smiles! I let her play for a little bit while I browsed at other kids' bedroom related cute and colorful decor items.
Soon, I wanted to move on, so I did the same strategy. Keep her sandals and carry her along. This time though, I found a little white mouse on the way, with a long pink tail and black whiskers! I thought it was cute and so did Miss Haana. We made another friend (the doggie was still with us).
Then we came to the toy section. That's when I got in trouble.
There were several small chairs and tables with small cars and trucks and rugs with parking lots and traffic signals and buildings and parks. There were tents and rotating chairs. There were dolls. There were ladybug floor pillows and blocks. It was wonderful!
We hung out there for an inordinate amount of time. Till I had to use the restroom! I asked the little girl- Let's go Gugu. But she refused point-blank. Any attempts to show that I am walking off were ignored - she really was busy. I found some toy trucks and browsed through some other toys and wondered when, if ever, will she get done.
Finally, it was getting too much!
I went back to her and said- "Gugu, let's go to potty party"
"I don't want to do potty party"
"But Gugu, I want to! Let's goooo".
More carrying little girl (and friends) and walking over to restrooms ensued!
