Skip to main content

Balloons

Could someone explain to me why Luke has already popped (by squeezing) more balloons than his sisters have popped together in their whole lives?

I think Eleanor still remembers one windy day when her balloon blew down into the grass and popped. It was traumatic because I wouldn't go get her another one, because Amanda (then a baby) was already buckled into her car seat and I was at the end of my rope.

Amanda squeezed a balloon once and it popped, and I think it made an impression on her. She tends to lose balloons: she only likes to hold onto them at the very end of the string, despite my explaining that they are harder to hold onto that way and despite the many balloons she has lost.

But Luke has squeezed 3 or 4 balloons to death, and although the experience is traumatic, he doesn't seem to have learned anything from it, since he does it again and again... When Eleanor was small, the pediatrician warned us to not have latex balloons in the house, since they are a choking hazard. I was confused, since you just kept the balloons until they were about half the size you started with, and then threw them away. Now I am starting to see how little pieces of balloon could get scattered around the house...
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
It's the pointy bit from the missing piece of one particular chromosome that is responsible for popping the balloons!
March 29, 2009 at 9:23 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My hero, Helen Parr

Otherwise known as Elastigirl , a.k.a Mrs. Incredible. She is a stay at home mom ( SAHM ), she clearly feels that what she is doing is important and is willing to give up a lot to do it (remember her comment in the intro: "I'm at the top of my game! Leave saving the world to the guys? I don't think so.") But she is finding fulfillment in leading her family from day to day, in doing a hard job well. She also knows that she is very talented, and that knowledge helps her see beyond the repetitive drudgery of staying home. My favorite scene is from the deleted introduction, where she talks with a "career woman" who is of the opinion that staying home is fine for people who can't do anything else. She responds that taking care of her kid is at least as hard as saving the world, and is valuable contribution to society. The point for me is that someone has to do the job that I'm doing, and it's not something that you could pay someone to do. I see...
8 comments
Read more

Things that are true

"Axial tilt is the reason for the season." (Picture a globe with the northern hemisphere tilted away from the sun...) I believe this is meant to be an anti-theist slogan, although I would point out that I believe there is a reason for the axial tilt. This is a runner up to my favorite true science picture, the "Gravity Forecast." I linked to this when I was a graduate student, but the site is long since down. Picture a weather forecast graphic, but instead of clouds and temperatures, the 5-day forecast predicts 9.8 m/s^2 down. Even the idea still makes me laugh, perhaps I will reproduce it someday. Luke cut his 4th tooth today (Finally!). So far they haven't caused us too much trouble. We'll see what happens when he gets his canines.
8 comments
Read more

Why the world is frustrating

It is very frustrating to be 2. Michael and I have been teaching Luke about closing doors and turning off lights---both good habits. He really enjoys opening the refrigerator door. He knows how to turn out the light. But when I try to get him to shut the refrigerator door, he screams, "Turn out the light!" He keeps getting in the way of the door so that he can push the little button. As far as I know, he's trying to turn off the light before we shut the door, and the fact that it keeps coming back on when we move him out of the way so we can shut the door drives him crazy. He doesn't believe us that the light goes out when the door is shut, and after all, how do we know ourselves? We've never seen it, we use logic. But this makes any attempt to shut the door a battle, unless I sneak over there without him seeing.
5 comments
Read more