The black rocking chair found us. I have no idea where it came from. Quite possibly it was found in the basement of the condo where we used to live in Providence.
It is really not either of our styles, black and old fashioned looking with gold painting on the top. Definitely an old school rocker. You know the style. I always have visions of painting old furniture different fun colors, but really have no idea how to do it. The probability is that it would it involve tools, sanding, etc. Not really my thing, although I do think it would be fun. Maybe when I don't have a toddler hanging from each arm and two nosy, furry dogs trying to figure out what is going on.
I knew we needed a rocking chair in a baby's room in August of 2005, so it ended up in the nursery. I was looking around online and at different stores for a replacement but I didn't like the glider types and everything else in our price range was pretty similar to the black rocking chair.
I did end up buying a big black leather comfy rocker, which, upon arrival, looked better as part of our bedroom decor rather than a rocking chair for a child's room.
So, the temporary black wooden rocking chair stayed in Baby TJ's room for a few years and many, many stories were read in it. Thousands. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. So many Pooh Bear books. Elmo. Sesame Street. Goodnight Moon. I read them all to my little tiny baby in that chair. When he was fussy, I would grab him from his crib and sit with him and feed him and sing to him. I remember holding TJ and rocking when he was 2-years-old and couldn't sleep and singing him made-up lullabies, that focused on what we did that day.
When Julia was born, it made it into her room as a temporary place to sit and again, many stories were told and many lullabies sung. The lullaby that my mom used to sing to me and I sing to both kids, still. "Lullaby, go to sleep, you are my precious baby. Close your eyes and goodnight, you are my little girl. Close your eyes, go to sleep, it is time for a rest, close your eyes and goodnight, you are my little girl."
Julia likes her daddy to sing her lullabies before she settles down, so he would sit with her in that chair and read to her and sing to her before bedtime.
Sometimes she would sit on my lap, facing me, and tuck her arms in underneath her and cuddle up her head on my shoulder. Love.
That temporary chair often held two kids and one parent for bedtime stories, without much complaint, besides breaking sometime.
One of the babysitters called it the "uncomfortable chair." And it was. It wasn't padded or cushioned, or cozy and it broke if you moved it a certain way.
Today, I moved it that certain way and the whole entire top came out, all the spindles. I left it for John to fix. Once again. Or not fix. We have said a million times we need to replace it. I think he glued the spindles in and did lots of different tweaks to it, but it was never a sturdy chair.
Finally today, he stuck those spindles in for the last time and put it on the corner outside. It was gone when we came back from errands. Hopefully someone will give it some love. However we ended up with that rocking chair, it definitely served its purpose here.