Swedish rites of passage

We had to go to IKEA over the weekend, we were looking for a guard rail for Maymuna's Big Girl Bed, which we bought there. Minneapolis is heavily populated by Scandinavians and the IKEA here reflects that: it is the biggest store I've ever seen. It's as big as most of the malls in Ottawa - probably comparable to Hazeldean Mall. If there were two of them stacked on top of one another. There are 20 checkout cashiers and they are all open. I dread going there on a weekend, but I rarely have the car to get out there during the week, so off we go... Saturday afternoon. Prime time.

The place is packed as usual and the first thing we pass is the play area. It's a pretty big sectioned off place where you can drop off your child for supervised play and continue shopping in peace. It boasts, as most IKEA's do, a ball pit with thousands of plastic balls in which children frolick and play. I should preface this story with a bit of background information, that I don't think I ever went into this sort of IKEA ball pit ever in my childhood - the crowding and chaos and noise doesn't appeal to me. I didn't think it would appeal to Maymuna either. You can see where this is going: I was wrong!!

We stood at the glass window watching the kids - there must have been 15 of them... or maybe 10, but ALOT - playing, throwing balls around and generally being rowdy as kids have a tendency to do in such places of extraordinary fun. They all seem to be big kids to me. Maymuna is jumping up and down with excitement, and turns to me with her huge eyes and says MOMMY CAN I GO???? Oh no. Please.

The last time we were there she didn't meet the height requirement, so I said, well honey, we better check to see if you are tall enough, see, they only let children who are tall enough go in. So we marched over to the height gauge on the wall and, lo and behold, my child is JUST barely tall enough. I mean, if I had taken off her shoes perhaps it could have swung the other way. This is even worse, if she goes in she'll be the smallest child in there! MOMMY CAN I GO??? Oh no. Please.

I see two little girls with their mom and notice they are wearing socks. I bet that you have to be wearing socks to go in the ball pit. I tell Maymuna, we'll check with the lady at the counter, but if you need socks we'll just have to come back another day. We get to the front of the line and the IKEA employee cheerfully tells me, like it's my lucky day, that Maymuna doesn't need socks to get in. At this, Maymuna starts tearing her sandals off, ready to go inside...

I fill out forms, double check there's no food allowed inside, we get stamped and they issue me a pager to carry - they'll beep me if Maymuna needs me or wants to come out. Alrighty then! My baby girl suddenly looks a bit unsure, but she marches right in past the IKEA staff... the wrong way. She is standing behind the sign-in counter, poor thing, no balls in there. A kindly worker points her in the right direction and then she is gone from view.

Not for long!! It's laughable and incredibly pathetic at the same time, but do I run and get myself a coffee? Or join Ozayr in the aisles of IKEA? No, my dears, those who know me best know already: I stand at the glass window and watch her play in the ball pit. She eases herself in and looks around a bit, and starts to play. She gets jostled a bit, but never knocked over. She gets covered in balls, but never buried. Of course should any such calamity occur I am waiting at the window, just off to the side (subtle, I know) ready to tap frantically at the glass to alert the IKEA staff to save my precious little girl.

At some point I've looked away long enough to locate Ozayr. The guard rail isn't for sale without a bed, so no luck today. OKAY, GREAT, WE'RE DONE! I'LL GO AND GET MAYMUNA!!

Just a short visit today? asks the desk attendant... I think he is smiling at me, knowing that I have barely taken three full breaths in the last 15 minutes, but I don't care, there she comes...

"My big girl! I am so proud of you! You went in the ball pit!" She smiles back at me, very proud of herself... I promise her we'll come back another day soon. We'll work up to a longer time in the play area next time, when we're all a little more prepared...