Phoebe's getting in the swing

I picked a parcel for Phoebe up today from the post office. It was enormous and I am still not totally sure who it's from. I'm guessing my brother or sister in law. Whoever it is from ( and when I find out I will thank you) it was a very exciting parcel for Phoebe and rather larger than I had anticipated when I picked up the card.

We went home and discovered it's a pink swing car which is frankly the coolest looking vehicle a three year old could ask for. I was hesitant about putting it together since it suggested the use of a mallet was necessary. I left it to Paul. I don't know at what point in my life I started to think saying "we'll ask Daddy to do it when he gets home" is acceptable. It clearly doesn't match my early nineties feminist principles. But in this case if I'd banged it together with a mallet I thought there was a good chance I would have wrecked it and been rather unpopular.

I suggested Phoebe wait until it was attached together before sitting on it. Fortunately it didn't break as she ignored my suggestion.

Superdad arrived home and didn't seem to need a mallet.

He then ensured that he got a go before the girls came outside since the instructions said it can be ridden by anyone from three years old to an average sized adult. Paul is light but over six feet tall. It didn't move. I got on it. I'm not light and quite short. It wiggled a bit unsatisfactorily.

We decided we would let the girls have a go. They took turns, in between yelling that it must be their go now. Essentially you move it by maniacally twisting the steering wheel from left to right. For the record tiles and laminate flooring are fairly zippy although a bit limited in terms of space in our house. Rough concrete is hopeless. It seems like good fun but we may have to go out at night and take our chances with the doughnut makers in the supermarket car parks! I could take it down to the school playground at pick up time but that would lead to many fights I'm guessing as Phoebe's wheels would be the hottest in school. So the park it is then.

Ultimately it looks good, moves well and is very popular. It is also enormous (the irony being we have just sent two wheeled toys to Freecycle and are trying to clear out the shed but hey ho) and ideally requires a large very flat area to whizz about on. Pretty good though.