Bye Bye Balloon

There is nothing so sad as the face of a baby who has just lost a balloon. I don't know what it is about the things that brings such joy to the little ones, but their faces light up when they get a balloon of their own to play with. Yesterday, Charlotte got 2, and didn't keep either one for very long. We went out for lunch after church, and got a balloon to take home from the restaurant. She held on to that thing for dear life until she fell asleep in the car halfway home. As soon as we got home, it was time to go over to a birthday party for a friend who was turnign 1, so we took the balloon to share. All of the kids at the party enjoyed it.

For dinner, we joined my in-laws, who were in town for the March Madness basketball games, at a mexican restaurant. Charlotte loved walking around the restaurant looking at all the colorful streamers and piñatas hanging around. As we were leaving, she got another balloon. The group of us stood outside for a while chatting, while Charlie shook her balloon, and pressed it to her face to look through it and hum into it. We all took turns looking at her from the other side, and getting our faces bopped. She had the ribbon around her wrist, and my husband and I also had a hold of part of it, but as we were walking to the car, she must have shaken the ribbon loose, for all of a sudden it floated up and away. She didn't cry or throw a tantrum at the loss of her toy, but she had the saddest face. We told her to wave "bye bye" to the balloon, and gave her a kiss before tucking her into her carseat for the ride home, where she promptly fell asleep.

Bright and round,
you float above me.
Your feet never touch the ground.

Your dance I command
as you bounce and bop,
safely tied onto my hand.

Now the ribbon is undone.
Bye, Bye Balloon
Away you fly up to the sun.

Striptease

Our daughter has a fascination with belly buttons. She can find her own and anyone else's upon request, and likes the giving and receiving of raspberries. She has a bad habit of randomly lifting my shirt so that she can poke me in the belly and give me a raspberry. That wouldn't be so bad except that she will do it in public, and my belly and the public are never supposed to meet. She also gets very frustrated if she's wearing a body suit that she can't lift to see her own belly button.

Yesterday when I picked her up from daycare, one of the teachers asked if we'd every had any "trouble" with her outfit--a bright red jumpsuit with Winnie the Pooh on the front (who she was able to name that morning while pointing to her outfit). It turns out that she knows how to undo the snaps all along the front of the jumpsuit so that she can see her belly. She was unsnapping herself all day, unless she had her jacket covering it.

Oh well, at least one female in the family won't be afraid to wear a bikini in public.

Charlotte's newest words

Pooh (as in Winnie the Pooh, sometimes applies to other teddy bears)
Elmo
Gavin (she calls him "Gavvy")
More
Snack (she's been saying this for a while, but we finally figured out what it was!)
Mine (did we mention that the terrible two's are starting?)