It's the Little Things

This started with me wanting to do something nice for him. A little 'treat'.  It was an awful week, that ended with one last doctor's appointment at 8am Saturday morning. I mean, who really wants to do that at the end of an ordinary week?

He was fussy.  It was a long appointment.  I decided to stop at Party City to get him a few balloons.  He doesn't eat ice cream. A cookie or cupcake would have worked, but that's not immediate for him and requires my help. Getting him in his chair again was a fight that I barely won, but it was worth the fight. He didn't care that I was showing him a green and purple, (the same colors as his "gears of the day"). But then he looked up and pointed at an Elmo balloon. Ok, I'll take the Elmo one too please. The girl helping us asks me if I would like the 'long lasting helium'. Umm, yes please.  I paid her $4.79, handed him the balloons, and watched the biggest grin appear on his face.

The rest of the day, these balloons never left his side.  At the table, on the floor, up the stairs, down the stairs. He even took them to bed with him.  Thankfully I was able to put them where he could see them and he was fine.

Sunday. Balloons are with him all day. Same thing up and down the stairs, while he is eating, sitting, playing. He had the balloons and gears at the table for dinner.   Thankfully, he didn't try to bring them to bed again. I knew they would make him happy and he would play with them, but I didn't think he'd enjoy them that much!  At this point I am realizing that this quite possibly could be the best $4.79 I've ever spent.

Since he didn't take the balloons to bed, I hid them. Easier than fighting on a Monday school morning, especially after him being home the entire previous week. Phew, I got him out the door sight unseen. I couldn't believe the balloons were still floating when I saw them after he left. I expected them to be on the floor.  Well, I knew it was going to be a tough day for him at school, so I had the balloons at the door when he came home from school. Another big grin when he saw them.  He grabbed them, took them into the family room and sat down grinning.

It's Tuesday morning and the balloons are still floating. I can't believe it! That was some long lasting helium in those balloons! They stayed hidden again until after school. In he comes through the door, straight up the stairs to the bonus room where the TV and balloons are waiting for him.  He grins again and grabs them pulling them up and down.  When I come get him for dinner, he insists on bringing them with him. So, for night number 4, balloons join him at the table.  They back up the stairs with him and even back into his room at bed time.  He was happy that he could see them.

Today is Wednesday. I go into his room to wake him for school, and the balloons are still floating! This is unbelievable! I want to call the girl at Party City and thank her! Of course, he wants to bring them down for breakfast. Who am I to say no? But after breakfast, he wants to take them on the bus to school. Uh oh. This is not going well, but I get him on the bus, without too much fuss.  We'll have to hope the balloons are still floating when he gets home. And yes they are!  Again he goes up the stairs.  I tell him it's bath time. He grabs the balloons and takes them in the bathtub with him. Seriously? He's laughing! Out of the tub, down to dinner, back upstairs again, all with the balloons.

I don't know what we'll do when they finally fall to the ground.  These balloons were supposed to be a 'treat'.  You know, something you get your kids for being well behaved, when you are celebrating a great game, or you feel bad because they've had a rough day. He's always liked balloons, but I've never seen him play with them consistently like this before.

I've been thinking about all the things I spend $4.79 on.  A coffee at Starbucks.  A carton of ice cream at the market.  A gallon of gas (almost). A few pieces of scrapbook paper.  I don't think any of these things are worth nearly what those balloons have meant to him these past 5 days.  I wonder if they'll be floating in the morning.