Hahahahha! Just kidding! This is NOT a review of IKEA - especially since everyone knows what it is. But, it could be a review through the eyes of Miss NoNo. We took her to IKEA twice before, but I guess that she didn't remember it!!!
This time, she had so much fun running around, trying things out (the chairs, the beds, the dressers!). I think she was just stunned that we were in a place where she could actually touch and play with anything (in the kid's department). She kept telling us, however, that she wanted to go downstairs.... to the playroom.... which is really funny since she didn't see it coming in and she told us that she didn't remember ever having been there before!!! Last time we were there, I couldn't bear to let her go in - - since the parents can't go in with the kids, I was too uncomfortable leaving her there...
(I know, I know - I am TRYING to not be a helicopter parent....but, since she is my only baby, I tend to be (slightly!) OVER protective....sigh!)
Anyways, this time, she looked big enough to hold her own with the other kids in there - they all looked about the same age. Evidently, judging from the length of the line of parents ready to drop their kids off - and the excited kids - the IKEA "playground" is a regular occurrence for some of them. I suppose when it rains, it's a great place to go. And, why I never thought of it on my own before is beyond me. :)
Miss NoNo ended up making friends with the little girl in line behind us and that was the end of that. They were inseparable from the time they got in there.
(Yes...I did stand at the glass and watch for about 10 minutes - - just to be SURE she was okay - lol)
The whole set up is cool - they have play stations and a ball area and just lots of little things to keep kids entertained. You can leave your kids for an hour (provided they are a certain height and are potty trained), and they take their shoes (no roughhousing?), and then give you a beeper. If they need you to come back before the hour, they beep you to come back. Also, they took my ID, they had me write down my address (in case of an emergency), and they put a label with her name on the back of her dress (also in case of an emergency). The coolest thing was that since I checked her in, no one else can check her out. Makes me feel very safe. And it's all enclosed - - no one out, no one in unless they go through TWO locked 1/2-door things.
When we were done and went to pick her up, they used a megaphone to call her back up to the counter. They had to call her three times....She never came up...They finally asked me what she was wearing and sent someone to go look for her!!! She was just sitting and talking to two or three other kids. I guess she wasn't ready to come back to adult-land. :)
Oh, yeah - we picked out a cool new bed for her with a canopy / net thing to go over it, new sheets, and a new rug...and a full length mirror for her room!! (Mr. NoNo thinks that she has outgrown her Dora bed.)
Although, I did ask her last week if she wanted a new bed....She told me that yes, she did, but she would be keeping her Dora bed, in her room, too!! Hahahaha
