Yesterday when I entered base to pick up Bug, no cars were exiting the base. For some reason, they had shut down the gates. As I watched oncoming traffic quickly start to back up, I realized it may be a while before we'd be able to head home. What to do?
The base has a wonderful "People Center." It has a huge jungle gym in the middle of the main room, with a wall dedicated to stairmasters, treadmills and stationary bikes, all facing the jungle gym. There's also a snack bar, a rock-climbing wall, pool tables, indoor miniature golf, and a balloon stand. When Bug saw some balloons outside, she started shrieking. I asked if she wanted a balloon. Hyperventilating from the back seat. What color? LELLOW! LELLOW BAH-OON!
We got inside and hung out at the toddler jungle gym for a while (which unfortunately does not have its own exercise equipment, so I won't be working out with her there anytime soon) before hitting the balloon stand and heading home. The balloon was tied to her wrist for the ride.
On the way home, this was the gist of the conversation Bug had with her lellow bah-oon:
Hello, bah-oon! Hi!
See you! (It's nice to see you!)
::bah-oon escapes and floats to ceiling::
My bah-oon! My bah-ooooon!
Come hee-ah, bah-oon!
Oh oh oh! Hi bah-oon! Lellow bah-oooon! Hello!
No, bah-oon! No! No! No!
Bah-oon a-WAY! Lellow. Bah-oon. a-WAY!
Momma! Momma! Lellow bah-oon! No!
As you can see, she has a rather odd attachment to her balloon. She would refuse it at times, but if it got out of her reach, she would pitch a fit. This happened at home, too.
And it continued this morning.
She was grumpy to begin with, having woken up at 6:40 rather than 7:30. (And 1/2 hour nap at school today. Am I concerned? OH YES I am!) Anyhoo, she insisted on playing with her lellow bah-oon while her waffle was toasting. By the time the waffle popped up, she was telling the bah-oon to go away. I took the balloon and put it back on the pantry door handle. She freaked out. It took a while to talk her down.
After breakfast in the playroom, this situation repeated itself. This time, though, Slava was sniffing around the discarded balloon.
::tangent::
Slava loves him some ribbon. Yarn, too for that matter. He likes to swallow it. Whole. One time K caught him with ribbon, and started pulling on the piece in his mouth. And pulled. And pulled. Like a magician pulling handkerchiefs out of his sleeve. Needless to say, we try to keep ribbony objects far away from Slava.
::end tangent::
Bug wasn't even near the balloon at the time, but when I grabbed it, she started freaking out again. I took the balloon to her room and closed the door. Again, it took several minutes to calm her, explaining that Slava likes to eat the string, which could hurt him. Besides, he might break the balloon, so I put the balloon away. She can play with it later.
Now? She's sitting happily with it by her side, watching Pooh. To note: I find it incredibly curious that Bug's first request for her lellow bah-oon since we've been home came right after I started typing this story. Mad skills!
