Too Close

Today we went grocery shopping and as is customary Hannah begged me to grab her a free grocery store balloon on the way out. Today it was fun because they had several colors. Usually it's only white. What fun is that? Anyway we grabbed a green one.

I often tell her to have conversations with inanimate objects to help her understand a concept. If I tell her to do something she doesn't get it but if she gets to tell something else what to do we have much greater success. Like she puts the cars, and other toys to bed at night, aka. put the toys away. So anyway, a few weeks ago I told to tell the balloon that it had to stay in the car and couldn't escape. If it was patient it could have a good home with us. So again today she had this conversation with the balloon.

I thought that way pretty funny but onto my point. We have a couple fans in our house that only stop running from December to February. When we got in the house I promptly turned off the one in the living room. We've lost a few balloons to the ceiling fan before. While I was making dinner, Hannah and Jonathan were playing in their room. All the sudden I hear the quick pitter patter of Hannah's running feet. This is what happened next:

Hannah: Mommy, quick. Balloon, balloon . . .
Me: Hannah, what?
Hannah: Balloon, balloon. And gestures going around and around.

Well, by then I could hear the balloon being squeezed around between the fan and the ceiling. I quickly turned off the fan and retrieved the balloon. This is the best part. Once the fan stopped and I was able to get the balloon, I hear Hannah say, "Too close, that too close, mommy. Too close." So cute and she kept repeating that and sighinglike she'd been holding her breath.

It's funny the things kids pick up on. I sure hope I give her good things to pick up.