November 8

One of the branches of Chris' bank had a party today, and we decided it would be fun to take the kids. It was outside, in a parking lot, with a DJ and games and balloons and face painting and food. Fun, right? Caleb saw all of the kids with awesome things painted on their faces, and with super-cool balloon creations, and he wanted those, too. So we stood in line and waited while the very talented, and very thorough clown did her thing. 

We waited in line for an hour. I am not even kidding. Chris and I took turns, and Caleb was able to come and go from the line, but he spent a good part of an hour waiting in line to have his face painted/get a balloon. Halfway through our wait, I realized that it was an either/or situation. If Caleb wanted both, he had to wait in line a second time, and the line was moving so slowly that it just wouldn't be possible.  So we talked about his face-painting options. I assumed he would get a Spider Man mask painted on his face. Daisy was adamant about the fact that she DID NOT want her face painted, and she was ambivalent about the balloons. No big deal.

Then it was finally Caleb's turn, and he froze. He refused to get in the chair to have his face painted, and he couldn't tell the clown what kind of balloon he wanted. (We later learned that he just didn't know what his options were.) So the very talented clown decided to make a balloon for him. She made a large, lovely, flower.

A flower.

For a five-year-old  boy.

I later saw someone with a really cool alien balloon, and other boys had awesome balloon hats. But she made Caleb a flower. 

Of course, he didn't want it. Because the DJ was blasting dance music right next to us, we couldn't  really have a conversation about what was going on. We just knew that we'd been waiting in line for an hour, and now Caleb wouldn't make a decision, was whining, and was hiding behind my legs. Sensitive to the fact that there were lots of other kids waiting and that he'd had an hour to think over his options, we decided that it was time to go. If Caleb couldn't choose something, we'd just go home. Daisy happily took the flower, and we led a crying Caleb to the car.

It was awful.

I could absolutely understand his frustration and disappointment, but at the same time, he wouldn't make a decision and didn't like the balloon that was handed to him. My heart hurts now just thinking about it. It was a no-win situation.

In the car on the way home, we discussed what happened, and realized that Caleb just didn't know what his options were and it was too loud for him to hear the suggestions we offered him. So I promised that when we got home, I would make him an awesome balloon hat.

I googled a few balloon hat tutorials, and we ended up with this:

He was so happy.

Look at that little face. Can you tell how much he loved it? His delight with the hat makes my heart hurt a little less about today's situation.

(Also, praise the Lord - it looks like we've beaten the stomach bug! Caleb slept all night, never threw up, and woke up feeling much better. Hooray for immune boosters and essential oils!)