Indianola Balloon-Fest and a BIG lesson

It was about 4:30 on Saturday when Ken asked if I saw his email message. I hadn't, since I was diligently working after almost 2 weeks off. Anyway, Indianola has a huge balloon fest that we have wanted to go to in the past and this was the weekend. Anna was quiet crabby already, so I suggested he take the 3 big kids and I would get Anna to bed early.

Unfortunately she had heard enough by that time to know she wanted to see the balloons. (Carolyn was trying to plead her case and said, "I will push her in the stroller if she falls asleep.") None-the-less, I distracted her with bubbles and they left. WEEEELLLLL folks, there used to be a day when all you had to do was distract Anna for a few minutes and she was good for the rest of the day. Those days are gone. She was so sad crying, "Sissy is going to push me in the stroller." So, I took her for a walk in the stroller to the school playground so she could have fun too. Then we read books and even at normal bedtime (so much for "early") she was sad, "I want to see balloons." (and she was just thinking about the kind they sell at the store - just imagine the anguish if she really knew what she was missing) I did promise to buy her a balloon at the Dollar Store the next day and that made things better.

So needless to say, we have entered a new era. Anna isn't going to miss a beat! Had I known earlier about the balloon-show, I would have been able to convince her to nap, but I knew without a nap, she would be asleep before we were out of Ankeny! Oh well, lesson learned! Anna is a big kid now!

(I should have known that times were changing, because the other day she was in the bath and she said, "I want some privacy." For the record, I told her that 3 year-olds don't get privacy in the bath tub for safety reasons.)