Up, Up and Away

I'm running out of new things to do at home with Gusi nowadays and since the weather's getting nicer, I have started taking Gusi out more in the afternoons. I took him to the zoo, then on a play date and yesterday I thought that I might as well get some errands done while I'm out so we stopped at a store to get some decorations for his upcoming birthday party.

We parked in front of the vacuum cleaner store which was just a few doors down from the decoration store. As soon as I got him out of the car he started hooting and pointing at the vacuum cleaners that were on display outside. I couldn't figure it out. He likes touching the hoses and buttons on our vacuum cleaner but what was the big deal about the ones outside? He made me take him to them and it wasn't until then that I realized that it wasn't the vacuum cleaners at all, but the balloons that were tied to them that had caught his attention. Of course! He loves balloons and bubbles and just about anything that floats in the air.

I had to pry him away from the vacuums--with much resistance on his behalf I might add--in order to finally go into the store I wanted. As soon as we walked in they had decorations for Easter already set up and his hands were eager to get at anything they could reach. He was so upset that I didn't let him play with things that he started kicking madly in his seat in the shopping cart. He squirmed his legs out of the openings (the belt buckle was broken so he wasn't buckled in) and managed to pull himself into a standing position. Great. Now I'm cruising around the store with a soon to be toddler who refuses to sit down. It was not easy but I finally got what I needed and walked over to the balloon section to place an order for his birthday party. It wasn't until the lady helping me offered him a balloon that he sat down. Why hadn't I thought of that before? I was able to check out quite easily while he tugged at the string on the balloon. Apparently the string is just as interesting as the balloon itself.

The car ride home was short but fun. I haven't heard him laugh that much in a long time. When we finally walked in the door he was so thrilled to have his balloon that he walked it all through the house as if to show each room his new toy. He held on to it when I had him on the changing table, when he had his snack and even though I managed to get him to let it go for dinner, he decided he had been apart from it too long so when it was bath time he took it to the bath with him. It was so cute and he was having so much fun.

Amazing how something so simple can make him--and me--so happy.