"Where do you get all of these great gifts?"

. . . She said (a review of sorts)

Not long after my wife and I started discussing potential birthday gifts for my nephew, my godson, Jackson, we came up with a target. Having now shepherded two children of our own through the face-smearing of a first-birthday cake, we had a little inkling of what would make a decent gift.

Surely to be overloaded with puzzles, trucks, and the now obligatory Yo Gabba Gabba doll, we were going to go in a slightly different direction. We knew; so we focused in on something a little more practical.

Toddlers, we thought, just learning the basics of standing, walking, and hygiene need just a little assistance when getting into position for a hand or face washing. Enter the step stool; the only questions – in what style and where to find it?

. . . Shopping for the perfect gift

When I say step stool, and if you have kids — you know the ones. I mean — you’ve noticed them, at Sears, at Target, and in the handful of homes that you may sometimes visit.

Jackson

The wife attempted first by grabbing one at Wal-Mart. In basis colors, she was planning to add some stenciling detail to it. Not super sturdy, though, so we discussed. What is his room theme again? My wife providing the answer – Animals.

I searched and quickly found this: http://www.allchildrensfurniture.com/Guidecraft-G83206-EZ1201.html — the Guidecraft Safari Storage Stool. A cool step stool — with storage no less — Bonus! It would work perfectly.

OK, and after further chatting, we figured we could do better. So we, as we often do, turned to the internet. My wife first — she was going to do some exploration. After about a half an hour, me watching the girls – she called me in. As we started making our way through the ten or so windows that she had open, we came to it: http://www.allchildrensfurniture.com/, a CSN Store.

CSN had contacted me a short bit ago about potentially doing a review for another of their 200 or so home-related sites. And I remembered it; so I said, Hey, let’s look here. . . . Animals, right.

. . . Assembly required

When I finished unpacking things from the weighty box, I was quick to notice the embossed features on the piece; elephants and zebras – nicely made, again, perfect. Sitting there in my office not far from the computer that I write at – I made this thing happen.

I really liked the way everything was labeled very clearly. I was even more surprised that the hex-screws included for the fastening of the structural elements were long, possibly up to four inches long.

It took me only about 15 minutes to assemble the piece; 10 minutes more, and I took some pictures. For grins – and since this stool was actually much nicer than the hand-me-downs we have, I sat it in our 1/2 bath. Wow, it looks great; what do you think? And there one last picture — the beautiful bronze plate, the stamp – Guidecraft, Made in the USA.

A proven track record (The print not the doll)

It was huge turn out, especially on a Ravens’ gameday. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends – all there to celebrate a big day. My girls were excited themselves; they love hanging with Jackson.

We ate, we drank, and we watched football. I took some time to sneak into his room and grab some shots of where our gift will live.

The assembled stool looks pretty good in my powder room

When gift-opening time came, my sister, this, her first child, may not have expected just how many gifts she would get for Jackson’s first b-day. The flood of learning toys, clothes, dolls, and books was, in fact, pretty prolonged. Ours, wrapped in its no-wrapping-paper-goes-to-waste craft project, was grouped at the tail end with other big ticket items.

Opting to take in the feeling of my success over taking pictures, I reveled in the moment she opened our gift. Finally, third from the end, this is what came out of my sister’s mouth as she unwrapped, Where do you get all of these great gifts? (We do have a decent track record.) All eyes in the room turned to me, and I heard – Did you make it?

I said, Cha (or something like that) . . . I wish.” And I deferred answering, not divulging my secrets. But you’ll know — I found this great piece at http://www.allchildrensfurniture.com/.