The Toy The Got The Best of Us

See, this toy set. Isn't it cute? When I saw it in the store, I just knew that Claire had to have it.She is all about playing with babies and the fact that it's twins was so exciting to me. I want her to be a mommy of multiples just like me. So I got her this for Christmas and when she opened it, I was not disappointed with her reaction. She was really, really happy and excited about it. She couldn't wait to get the babies out. The other thing that she wanted most was the stroller.

She was dead set on getting her babies in that stroller and talking them for a walk. So being the good mommy that I try to be, I opened the box, pulled out all the pieces and tried to put it together.

I laid all the pieces out, carefully talking a mental inventory of each piece. But there was one thing that was missing.

The instructions.

I looked over all the pieces that were laid out in front of me. I questioned each one of the kids. I looked under the furniture. I checked every inch of the box but the instructions were no where.

By this time Claire was begging and pleading for her stroller. She just wanted to play with it. She wanted it right now. I looked at her, look down at all the pieces, looked over at Jeff, the usual one who assembles all the toys who was busy putting together something for the Quinn, and I decided that I couldn't disappoint my little girl. I didn't have want make her sad on Christmas and I didn't want her wait another minute for a toy that she really, really wanted.

So I decided to put the toy together myself with out the aid of the instructions. How hard could it really be?

Well, that thought right there, set off a chain of events that lead to it taking 3 hours for that stroller to get put together and to the fact that there is now an epoxy stain on my bedspread.

See, in trying to put the stroller together with out instructions, I ended up breaking one of the pieces. I was trying to put two pieces together that clearly did not go together and I broke the pin that held the piece that did fit in place.

My struggle caused Jeff to become interested and he soon saw my mistake. After many under the breath cuss words and a few tears from me, Jeff came up with the idea that we could use epoxy to glue the pieces together.

Beautiful. Problem solved.

After reading the instructions on the epoxy package we told Claire that in 20 minutes she would have her stroller. She was so happy that she was jumping for joy.

Jeff quickly got the epoxy on the pieces and stuck them together. We set the timer for 10 minutes and started making breakfast while that set. When the timer beeped, he went over and began to put the rest of the stroller together only to realize that he had put it on upside down.

Thankfully, the package was incorrect about the time needed for the epoxy to set and Jeff was able to pull it apart. Once again, Jeff applied epoxy to the pieces, put them together and set the timer for it to set.

The phone rang. Jeff took the call, being it was his mom, and began to tell her all about our Christmas and as they talked about Claire's stroller he walked over to check on it and realized that yet again, he had put the piece on upside down.

He continued talking to his mom while he pulled the toy apart for the second time and began the process of applying more epoxy.

Well, Jeff's mom wanted to talk to me and of course I had to be in our bedroom making the bed. So as Jeff held the toy together with newly applied, wet epoxy on it, he took the phone to me in our bedroom and as he handed me the phone and as he did very large drop of epoxy slide off the toy and onto our bed.

I watched it drop in slow motion. The only thing I could do was screech at him to get out of the bedroom. I tried to rub the epoxy off the bedspread but I only ended up sticking my fingers to the spread and smearing it.

Knowing that my efforts were futile, I returned to the kitchen where Jeff had finally finished putting the stroller together. But that was not before he almost put the piece on upside down for a third time. He did not realize his mistake until I pointed out to him that it was difficult to read the words when they were upside down.

So long story short, Claire now has a fully functional twin stroller that she loves and adores. And Jeff and I have a constant reminder of our struggles and that we might be idiots.