QUACK

Our adventure started on Friday morning. I drove to Target to meet up with my friend who has a 2 month old boy. We both had some things to buy and figured it would be a good excuse to shop and hang out. I parked the car and went to get Ben out of his carseat and load him up in the stroller. FYI Ben now weighs over 20 pounds and really doesn't fit in his infant carseat anymore. He's too long and his feet stick out the end of the thing and I now hear a rhythmic "thump thump thump" on the backseat of my car whenever we are driving around. Also- picking him up in the carseat and hauling him around is near impossible unless you're superman. It's carrying about 50 pounds of dead weight around....not fun. Even less fun when I was running with him in the carseat in the jogger...pushing 70 pounds uphill has given me man-quads that really aren't that attractive and don't fit well in jeans. Anyway- now I'm starting to leave the carseat in the car and just pick Ben up and transfer him to the stroller and push that around. Much more manageable. Anyway- picked Ben up and was about to move him to the stroller when I noticed my hand was damp and smelly. Let's just say after that there was a frantic call to my friend inside Target to come help and bring some plastic bags. Poor Ben was stripped down in the trunk of my car in the Target parking lot before we proceeded with our shopping trip.

I was on a mission that morning to buy a specific product from Target that I'd heard about from several friends. 2 of my neighbors raved about it and all the reviews on Babies R'Us and Amazon were great. I guess I'm susceptible to signage and reviews so I set out on my mission to buy said product. After much laughter and mocking from my friend and the voice inside my head, I purchased it, and took it home.

If you google "Munchkin Duck Tub" this is what you'll pull up. It's a 3-4 foot long inflatable bathtub in the shape of a duck. It's supposed to be a "transitional" tub for 6-12 months when your kid can sit up and can't really fit in the infant tub but you don't want to put them in the normal bathtub. It's a giant, bright yellow inflatable duck and actually quacks when you squeeze the beak. No joke...the thing quacks. I took this thing out of the packaging thinking how hideous it would look in my newly remodeled bathroom. I proceeded to blow the thing up and almost passed out and had to lay on my bed next to the giant duck for about 10 minutes before I had enough oxygen in my brain to sit up without being lightheaded.

After all this work....Ben was ambivalent to the tub. The quacking sort of got his attention but for the most part, he didn't even seem to notice the change in bathing apparatus. So in that regard it was a failure. It also was a failure in that it is already almost too small for him. He barely fits in the thing and definitely can't lay down in it. He'll have outgrown it already next week.

The duck has been good for lots of laughs....especially with Brina the dog. Brina was not ambivalent to the thing. Poor dog was completely petrified by it and when we made it quack she just about lost it. She darted around the bedroom running away from it and hiding and then came running at it full speed howling and barking like a wild animal. For those of you who have met Brina, she's just about the calmest dog in the world. Dogs walk by, squirrels walk by, strange looking people walk by and she doesn't flinch. No barking...no nothing. But this bright yellow duck was just too much for her.

So for now, the duck lives in our bathroom, hidden from the view of the chicken dog who can't wrap her mind around a giant inflatable duck. Maybe Ben will come to appreciate it as time goes on but for now, I deem it a complete failure. Good thing it only cost $12.