Play ball ball at Ikea

The daughter wanted to play in the playground at Ikea. The one with many colourful balls. I guessed she must must be very keen, cos this was the first thing she said to me when she woke up on Sunday morning.

So, to avoid the weekend crowd, we reached there at about eleven, and she was registered after had her height checked. She gamely put on the apron, numbered "17". Why I said that was she had all along rejected the apron many times - during the lessons at GUG, and our previous trip to Ikea. The fact that she did not kick up a fuss was a welcome change.

However, missus and myself were quite surprised that she did not join the crowd, but standing at the entrance. Wondered if it was due to the over-enthusiastic children jumping around, or was it her dislike of standing on the balls and losing her balance.

So, she stood there, holding the ledge. Missus seeing the helpless duaghter was thinking of getting her to come out. I asked her to wait (since she was not crying). After a while, she started to pick up few balls and threw towards the kids. Then we saw her smile, and it was then that the missus had a sense of relief. Though she did not take many steps and walk towards the slide - which she had wanted, it was a giant step in overcoming her fear.

After about quarter an hour, she decided to come out but we were pleased that she had achieved a few "first". I am sure she would attempt the slide on the next occasion.

But i hope it would not be so soon. The interval between our visits to Ikea was less than two months. After went there w/o plans to buy any, we always ended up not empty-handed.

Worse still, u have to pay 10 cents or 5 cents for plastic bags.