Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

As I've said plenty of times before, raising a child requires a lot of crap! There are things we are given, things we ask for and shit we just accumulate for babies.  Some things are nice to have, some things aren't necessary, some things are just a waste of money...but then some things fall into the can't live without, would like to kiss the person who created it, gotta have it, I don't care how much it costs, category - the jumperoo was one of those items.

This past week we had to say good bye to our friend the jumperoo, it was sad to see him go - his primary colors added a certain gene se qua to the ambiance of our living room. So with a heavy heart we disassembled the miniature kiddie carnival ride that had been taking up enough relestate in our living room to add an additional love seat to our existing furniture, boxed it up and stowed it away in the garage to pass it along to another couple in dire need of a baby holding contraption for their house.

I was so excited by the amount of space and clear view out the french doors into our back yard that I was motivated to clean the floor where many an item had found their final resting place under the jumperoo as well as clean the window where hand prints, nose prints and snot from projectile sneezing had collected.

After enjoying the spaciousness and cleanliness of the living room minus the jumperoo, we quickly started to long for those primary colors and more importantly for a contraption that would keep our little Miss contained and entertained while Mommy & Daddy had five minutes of adult time each evening. So with wallet open wide we ventured to the dreaded baby store to purchase yet another wonderful invention...what I refer to as the "equalizer"... I believe most parents know it as the exersaucer.

I call it the equalizer because now little Miss and BonBon are "equals" - when the dog runs, Abbey can chase; when the dog tries to lick her she can't reach her face; when Abbey has treats, the dog can help herself...they are in fact now equals.

This moving version of a stationary jumperoo is fantastic. Since little Miss crawls at high speed these days, this device keeps her up, away from all the dangers that our house holds and she's out of the reach of the dogs tongue which means all is right with the world.

On Easter morning, with the hint of spring finally in the upstate air, we ventured outside, mainly because between the baby dropping food on the floor combined with the long cold winter, our dog looks like a stuffed sausage and we humans are like wilting flowers dying for a few rays of sun. So with sweat shirts on and the exersaucer on the deck we enjoyed the few moments of warm morning sun and the fresh air while watching little Miss tear it up around the deck.

So without further ado, here's little Miss in her new mobile exersaucer...we said goodbye to one old friend and hello to a brand new world!