A Girl and Her Balloon

The first balloon

Lila Grace has recently adopted a fascination of balloons. Her particular, borderline obsessive behavior is perfectly demonstrated by her love of balloons. One day, I took just Lila to the store. What a treat that was. She asked for a balloon and I gladly obliged. I didn't know at the time that she was going to hold that balloon for EIGHT hours. She quietly sat in the cart holding the string with both hands as if it were a bouquet of flowers. When arriving home, she continued to hold tight to her balloon and even ate with it in one hand. It was a bit tricky when putting her down for a nap. She flipped her lid when I took the balloon away. Not her typical orneriness but hysterical - something is very wrong in my world - cry. It has became obvious that she was terrified that her balloon was going to float away. I ended up letting her sleep with the balloon and checked on her a few times to ensure it wouldn't become tangled around her body. When she woke up, she was in the same position and still holding that darn balloon.

That night we decided to go to Costco and, of course, the balloon came too. Unfortunately, Daddy didn't anchor it and it slipped through Lila's fingers just as I looked up. We all watched it float away and suffered through Lila's heartbroken screams. Thankfully, Costco was pushing the Children's Miracle Network with balloons and only by the grace of God did Lila take to one of those. Of course that started the cycle all over, potty, sleeping etc. In fact, that night Lila started crying at 11:30 pm and we believe she had laid there awake the entire evening. She was so tired but too scared to take her eyes off of her balloon. She settled for Daddy tying it to her crib.

Frustrations grew when the balloon sagged the next morning. Luckily, our trip to Chuck E. Cheese brought a Chuckie balloon into Miss Lila's grasp. It has been over a week now and Chuckie still sits tethered to a a corner in my kitchen. Lila panics if anyone moves it. Somehow the balloon is "safe" if in that corner which relieves her of the holding duty.

Same position she started in


The Costco replacement finally tied to the crib for the very tired girl

The sagging balloon the next morning

All I can say is this behavior is not unlike Miss Grace. It is this behavior that also makes her undeniable cute but a pain in the you know what to raise at times. God give me patience. I don't know what I will do when Chuckie starts to deflate.