When I came back I was ready for the day, but it was clear that other members of my household were not. Megersa was cranky and ready for a nap...my darling hubby was still "testing out" his new NFL football game (he's TOTALLY in football mode awaiting the new season)...but Cale.
Oh Cale.
My shopping buddy.
This kid would shop with me all day long. Seriously.
He doesn't care where either - WalMart, Target, Costco, Kohls, Home Depot, The Dollar Tree...
Anywhere, really.
He loves to be out and about with me.
So, I enticed him to get dressed and put his shoes on so we could go "to the store!"
YAY!! :)
We stopped at The Dollar Tree first. A Cale favorite. I have about 6 family members with birthdays in early Sept, and cards at the dollar tree are 50 cents a peice. Can't beat that! Especially since most people throw them out.
Generally, as a note, when we got to the dollar tree, which isn't too often, Cale gets to pick out a "prize" if he'd been good that day.
Today he picked a helium balloon.
Despite my prompting to get something a little less girly, he chose a "Happy Birthday" balloon with painted flowers and butterflies. Oh well. (I actually think it's kinda funny.)
He carried it around the store. He even managed to carry to the car unassisted, though I really wanted to hold the end of the string for him "just in case."
I won the battle about keeping the windows shut, even though Cale had carefully placed the balloons string under the flap of the cupholder assuring me at the top of his lungs "it WON'T blow away!!"
We tied it to the headrest as we went to Walmart. All was good.
We had fun in the store and I kept thinking how much easier it is with only one child at the store. I mean, sure, it's normally just one more...but double the body - double the drama.
Plus, Megersa doesn't enjoy the shopping experience as much as big brother.
I got everything on my list...with several 'bonus' items (as I always end up doing). I'm not exactly sure how it happens, but a list of 8 items usually multiplies to at least twice that.We checked our blood pressure. Mine - 114 over 66, heart rate 71.
Cale...well, his was hard to read since his arms are too short and he realized that red buttons mean stop - and this rule is universal. :)
They had a new display thing to help sell Dr. Schole's foot soles. It was actually kinda cool - they could predict where your pressure points were based on how your feet rubbed the gel pad you stood on.
When Cale stepped on, the little screen kept popping up "we are having a hard time getting a reading on your foot" - well, #1 his feet were WAY too small, and #2, his feet wouldn't stop moving.
So, fast forward.
Why did it go bad?
Well, we came home. My hands were full of grocery bags, and I warned Cale to keep a "tight hold" on his balloon. He did. We walked into the house and I asked Tim to get the rest of the bags. Cale followed him, balloon in hand.
He walked into the garage with Tim.......and like slow motion...he let go of his grip.
Tim said as soon as he heard Cale yelling, he jumped up to try and catch it; but by that point, it was already almost 10 feet up........
I was inside putting things away when all of this happened, and all I could hear was a pitiful scream and then "Well, now we have to just watch it fly higher and higher."
Cale melted. He was inconsolable.
Poor fella. I mean, I knew at some point in his life, it was gonna happen.
And part of me kinda thinks that most kids need to experience something like that so that they remember to HOLD TIGHT to things they dont want to lose.
But the softer side of me wanted to cry with him. I mean, there's no getting it back.
We offered another balloon, but apparently no other balloon could match the 'pink circle happy birthday' one he chose especially for himself.
Eventually he did concede to eating lunch and seemed to perk up a little as agreed that it was so nice for giving his balloon to Jesus.
But the rest of the day was a little bit harder for it.
Moral of the story: Hold tight to things you love. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment