Pongo and Perdita

Before I had kids of my own, I would constantly wonder how in the world children would end up with so many toys.  I surmised a lot of things before I had my own kids!  For those of you who are wondering that very thing, let me give you an example of how it goes down.

The other day I packed up the girls and headed to IKEA.  I felt the need to get out of the house, but being that the temperature was somewhere between the inside of my oven and the surface of the sun, I wanted to go somewhere with AC.  Oh, yeah, and free was a requirement, too - although, this outing ended up not exactly being free!  For those of you who may not know, IKEA is almost as good as the play court at Chick-Fila.  There are beds to climb on, mirrors to stare into, and little rooms to explore without the temptation of the yummy chicken nuggets and fries!  Cora was having a blast, and we soon found ourselves in the little kids section.  There you will find display items of most of their really cool toys and activities, including a slide and some play huts with tunnels.   Cora was pretty disappointed when I informed her that it was time to keep it moving.  But, when we wandered over to where the stuffed toys and imaginative play items were, she changed her tune.

That is when we found Pongo.

Folks, I really do believe that she saw the heavens open up and the light shining down on this floppy little dalmatian.  I have never seen little miss get so excited about a stuffed animal.  She turned to me with all sincerity in her eyes and voice and said "Mommy, I love him!"

Now I ask you parents, how do you combat that?!?

I think my exact response was, "You love him, eh?"

To which she replied, "I think I can take him to the car."

Oh, really??

Turns out she was right about that.  Truly, Cora has located and effectively severed my Achilles heel.  Since it appeared that Pongo would only put me out $2.99, I picked up one for Carys, too.  We will soon be in the stage of "that's not fair!" anyway, so I thought I'd go ahead and get used to the double whammy.  Well, it turns out that Pongo and his companion Perdita were actually $7.99 apiece.  (Great price for a stuffed animal of its size, but the one alone was more than I intended to spend on the 2.)  If Carys hadn't already slobbered all over hers, we would have just gently put it back.  Fortunately for me, the dogs were money well spent.

See?

Carys and Perdita

Cora and Pongo.

I should mention here that Pongo ($7.99) gets much more play mileage than Patasha ($21.99).  Had I known this, I would have taken Cora to IKEA back in June rather than attempting the Build-a-Bear Workshop with a highly uninterested, newly minted three year old! sigh

I think it's safe to say this is her first case of puppy love!