rocking horse
We went to my dad's house for Christmas on Dec 11th. Leann has this wooden rocking horse that Ally wouldn't leave alone. She was rocking or sitting or climbing on it the whole time we were there. She absolutely loved it. So, I thought I'd get her one for her Santa present under the tree. Unfortunately, that was the 11th. Not much time. No big deal, I had seen a couple plush rocking horses at Kmart and Bergners recently. We looked at Kmart. Nothing tall enough. We looked at Bergners. No horses left, only unicorns. I don't like that idea. It's just not right. Rocking horses should be horses. It was the right height though, so I thought we were onto something. Checked the internet for that brand. Very expensive! (very on sale at the store) I checked Walmart, sers, penney's, sams, toys r us, babies r us, etc. Nothing acceptable. Rob decides that he doesn't really like the plush ones anyway. Ally enjoyed playing with the wooden one, so that's what he wanted. A guy Rob works with has a neighbor who makes them, so we called to see if he had any. nope. None ready until after New Year's.

Tick, tock, tick, tock

I gave up. I figured that Ally wouldn't really notice if she didn't have something like that under the tree anyway, and decided just to be disappointed. That was always my favorite part of christmas. I liked opening presents, but the best part was walking into the room and finding unwrapped already-assembled toys ready to play with.

Then Rob got a call on the 22nd that the neighbor guy would have one ready after all. I think he hurried one up so we could have it for Christmas. Rob was able to pick it up Christmas Eve while he was at work, and bring it home for under the tree before Ally woke up. He took off early just to make sure he'd get there in time. Yay. Ally really likes it. She quickly learned to climb up and down. It's pretty heavy, since it's made out of oak, so she really has to get her whole body rocking to make it move. The great thing is - it fits her now okay, but she'll also grow into it better. It's a long term toy. The bad thing is - it's rather large. Where are we going to keep it forever?