Perfect timing

Last weekend I had the idea to pull out Ladybug’s Christmas gifts and start wrapping them. It ended up being a smart move for two reasons: First, Ladybug ended up getting sick in the following days, and second, have you tried getting toys out of their packaging lately?

I didn’t want to spend Christmas day putting together toys next to an impatient toddler, so I decided to take most of them out of their boxes and wrap them assembled. Thank goodness I did. There were so many twisties, plastic wraps and scotch tape holding everything in place that it took me – count it – eight hours to get her gifts ready. And I didn’t even wrap the big stuff, opting instead for a couple stick-on bows. I skipped the small stuff, too, putting it on the side to tuck into several stockings.

To be fair, half that time was spent putting together a play kitchen. The label on the box said the kitchen measured three feet by four feet, and since the packaging was that size, I assumed it was already assembled and all I had to do was pull it out of the box. But you know it’s not a good sign when the first thing you see when you open the box is a bag of four dozen screws.

I had flashbacks to the tricycle I assembled a few months back (see the September posting “What Were They Thinking?” ). Like the trike, all of the kitchen pieces were connected. I had to twist and pull and cut the plastic attachments then match them with their corresponding pieces. Four hours later, I had a fully constructed kitchen complete with a sticking stove door, overly tightened knobs and two extra screws.

I’m just hoping Ladybug will be so impressed she won’t notice.