Ikea to the rescue??

Today, as I watched Annika pull things off our TV stand, I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and do some child proofing. Up until this point, we've been able to manage just by placing things out of Annie's reach. But as she gets more mobile, it's getting to be more difficult to do that.

Along comes Ikea. Neither Jim nor I have been big Ikea fans. We felt that it was a good option when you're in college, have no money, and don't care about the quality of what you're buying because you'll just throw it out in a couple of years anyway. But once you're beyond that, and if you're like me and find it hard to throw away anything, it doesn't work. Plus, the lay-out of the store always stressed me out, particularly when there were 2 zillion people there. Most people disagreed with our assessment of Ikea. Back before there was one in the Boston area, a good friend of mine used to travel back to New Jersey, where she was from, just to do an "Ikea run" (and visit her parents). But I also remember using an Ikea water glass at her house and having the thing crack in my hand.

And yet we found ourselves today at Ikea. The truth is that we don't have a budget for new furniture, and our TV stand needed to be replaced. Badly. Like, it should've been replaced a looooong time ago. And it's completely un-childproof-able. It's completely open and Annika could reach in and toss our DVD player on the floor anytime she felt the urge.

The store is about 30 minutes from our house, off of Rt. 3, so it's not like it was a huge investment of time to go there. We were very pleasantly surprised. We picked out the TV stand we wanted right away. It comes with doors that lock - perfect for child proofing. And the price was remarkably low. Then we got lunch at their cafeteria, and sat at this table next to a window with the sun pouring in. Annika even enjoyed a meatball and some mac and cheese. Here she is in the cafeteria, in her ultra-modern, Ikea high chair, playing with my empty bottle of "sparkling pear juice":

I was amazed at how child-friendly the whole place was. They have special "family friendly" parking, and they actually sell jarred baby food in their cafeteria. They also have a pretty nice-looking play area (for kids a little older and more mobile than Annika).

In addition to the TV stand, we picked up a Puong chair for my office at work (I need a more comfortable chair for reading cases and such), and a little wooden toy for Annie, as an Easter gift (since the whole Easter basket doesn't work so well when you can't eat candy or chocolate yet). I was amazed at Ikea's wooden toys for kids. They have whole train sets, like Jim had as a kid, and they are amazingly affordable. Solid wood too.

Jim assembled the TV stand this afternoon. It looks great, and everything is so organized inside. We should've done this a long time ago. I'm just amazed at how easy it was. Usually it takes us months to purchase furniture, and it's a painful, hassle-ridden process (ie: read my prior posts about our crib purchase). I guess, in the end, it's all about motivation, and then sometimes you just get lucky.