Balloonatic
Lia loves balloons. Always has. Here in the States you get a balloon in every supermarket for free, which is awesome. This Sunday Lia's relationship with balloons has changed forever. It was the first time that Lia let go of her balloon by mistake, an incident close to being traumatic. This happened in our living room, and as we have very high ceilings, we couldn't even get the balloon down with a ladder (not that we own one). Big tears were shed, yet the balloon would not be moved to come back down (insensitive piece of ... plastic). A balloon only lasts so long, so when we got home in the evening the balloon was on the floor, ready to be grabbed. Which Lia did. And she never let go. She was so absolutely terrified that the balloon would fly away again if she lost her grip on it that she simply held on to it for dear life. At dinner she sat in her high chair with her balloon, eating her avocado bread with only one hand. And then it was Lia AND a balloon whom we had to get ready for bed. Trying to explain to her that the balloon was in its late thirties and too old to make another escape didn't lead us anywhere, and neither did our one attempt to take the balloon away by force. We didn't even get a chance to demonstrate that the balloon needed a wheelchair to get places. There was only one solution: cut the string and let Lia fall asleep with her beloved balloon. Yes, Stevie was certainly jealous. But he's a really good friend and decided to scoot over. We can always fit a balloon in!
Next day at the supermarket I got Lia another balloon. She was excited and happy, and also scared s...less that this one would fly away, too. Her arms were actually shaking with fear (and I'm not exaggerating here). I told her that everything was ok, and Lia kept repeating 'key, key', but just couldn't stop shaking. Another night hugging a balloon? Well, we certainly took a shower with it, but successfully kept it out of bed. Getting over a traumatic incident takes one balloon at a time.
Addition: At our last supermarket spree I offered Lia a balloon and she actually said no. Smart choice. Those buggers are unreliable.
6 comments:
Oh dear. The picture with the balloon in bed is sooooo cute. Love it.
Thank God you didn't loose Stevie, Lia ... what heartbreak that would have caused I can't even begin to imagine ...
Very funny. "Üüüüber den Wolken.... Muss die Freiheit wohl grenzenlos sein..." I say that's an excellent excuse to go shopping every day!
Now Alex has a good point here...I wonder if Bobbi might start to give balloons too? Excellent marketing strategy I say.
Next balloon we get will be tied firmly to peanutty waist.
O--------
(virtual baloon on a very long string. use as a spare. don't overspend at bobbi's. buy your friends baloons instead)
Very Cute!!! Liam takes baths and goes to bed with many such items that he simply cannot part with. Some are too big and not really water-proof, but who wants a tantrum I ask?! In the last few weeks though, he has been somewhat cooperative when we say that item x (for example, his huge toy tractor) has to go night-night and so he says night-night to it and gives it a kiss (lucky tractor!) and then he lets go of it. But it only works some of the time. On some nights the toy of choice goes to bed with him.
Today I witnessed the fear Lia has of balloons. "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" <--- when I tried to give her one...eek. Hopefully it passes before her birthday, or the Macy's Thanksgiving parade!
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