My son Frankie is 5 months old now, which is hard to believe. Even now at such a young age when I look back at pictures from when he was first born I think to myself, "How can someone change so quickly in so little time?" His newest development is that he likes to sit up. Now, he cannot do this on his own for more than about 10 seconds, and certainly cannot pull himself up yet, nonetheless he is a strong little guy and he definitely has his mama's independent defiance! So, I decided he needed a walker or play-thingy-ma-jig that he could actually sit in, without his father or I having to physically sit with him cross legged on the floor. Now, I knew that to buy a brand new one would run me anywhere from $60 to God only knows how much.
and so the search began...
Have any of you ever been on craigslist? That site is a black hole that will suck you in to searching for hours upon hours (if only the child in the swing slept so long!) Comparing and contrasting, trying to find the best bang for your buck while sorting through hundreds of postings all the while emailing the posters of "stuff" to even know if your new found treasure is still available! They tell you it is, you tell them you're interested, then..... silence.
I was fed up.
My mom tells me Wal-Mart was advertising baby stuff on sale, so we decide to go look. What a joke. Not one sit-up toy for under $50. Now I know fifty bucks really isn't that much for a baby item that will be used daily for months on end, but who really has an extra fifty in these psychotic economic times! My budget was $20, a gift from my mother-in-law for Frankie. So I look at my mom and suggest trying Goodwill. We pray before going in, asking God to have what we need there, and Mom throws in for it not to cost over $10.
I honestly don't think they will have one of these items especially at such a low cost. After sifting through two huge bins with toy parts askew everywhere I am almost to the point of defeat. Frankie will just have to play in Mom and Dad's laps if he wants to sit up. But then, we turn the corner and see strollers and car seats and... dun dun dun.... not one, but TWO of the exact thing I am looking for! One is called an Exersaucer, with many toy attachments to occupy the little one, the other is a fire truck. I love the fire truck, but think to myself, "what if one day I have a girl, that just won't do." I look at the price of the fire truck, $19.00. I can swing that, my budget is $20. The price of the Exersaucer, $10.99. SOLD. Not only is God good enough to bless me with finding one, baby toys happen to be 25% off this day. I got it for $8.24.
God is good. The great toy search ended. Frankie loves his Exersaucer, he was all grins as soon as we put him in it.
