Flirting with Death

Edward first encountered balloons on the Fourth of July, when some well-meaning neighbors presented him with some easily-popped-on-the-spot water balloons and sent us home with a scarcely-floating inflated balloon. He cutely bounced the balloon by its short leash as we walked from the parking lot to the apartment door, and fascinatedly jerked it about as we entered the apartment itself. Neither he nor I was prepared for his father’s rather panicked reaction to the new toy: wasn’t I aware that balloons are practically death on a string?!

I wasn’t, though I am now aware that balloons offer a serious choking hazard to children (most notably to children who like to explore new objects with their mouths, like a certain Floofpot of ours did…). At any rate, the balloon disappeared soon thereafter – though not, of course, until I had managed to sneak a picture or two, 'cause seriously? Edward + balloon = mass cuteness.

Following that fateful day, I faithfully fought for a balloon-free household, and succeeded marvelously at it, too, until yesterday. Alas, the helium gods were against me!

Edward and I spent the morning at the Saturn dealership while our car was inspected (it passed, in case you were wondering). The lobby was, for some reason or another, quite festively decorated with – you guessed it – balloons. Edward enjoyed running around, pointing animatedly and shouting “booh!” at each in turn. I confess I may have bopped him on the head once or twice with a snagged balloon. We had a blast, and I thought that was the end of that. Oh, was I ever wrong!

Our next adventure involved some odds ‘n’ ends shopping at Trader Joe’s, which store is renowned for its friendly staff & checkout clerks. This famed friendliness is (it turns out) quite justified, for when Edward excitedly spotted another of those newly-[re]discovered sources of joy floating brightly above the cash register and shouted loudly and repeatedly at it, our clerk nabbed the balloon and had it secured around Edward’s wrist faster than I could say “booh!”

What was I supposed to do? I mean, really? Such cuteness was hard to ignore. Besides, Edward hasn’t yet managed to get the thing close enough to his mouth to do much harm at all…