Mums are special

I didn't mention on Mother's Day that Dante bought me a helium balloon when he went shopping with Grandma and Dan. A shiny red round balloon with the words "Mums are special" written on it. When he presented it to me I was busy hanging out the washing, so said "Oh thanks - give it Atticus". Dante exclaimed "No! It's for you! He'll just lose it!" and was quite upset about the whole thing. But I was too busy to take much notice and insisted that he take it inside and let Atti play with it (Atti loves balloons).

Afterwards Dan told me the story behind the balloon. They'd gone to the department store and there was a lady selling these out the front for $1. Dante really wanted to get me one so Grandma bought it for him to give to me. He was so happy.

However during the sojourn through the shop, probably overexcited by the toy section, he accidentally let go and the balloon sailed to the ceiling far above. Dante was devastated by this and burst into tears. He immediately demanded that they get another one, and he offered to pay for it himself with his own pocket money, because he knew that it was his fault for losing it in the first place. So they bought it, and he was very pleased to be able to give it to me.

And I was the most horrible, ungrateful mother ever.

I felt SOOO bad when Dan told me the story afterwards. What could I do? I thanked Dante for it again, but it just wasn't the same.

Anyway, it has turned out to be a really long-lasting helium balloon. Normally these sort of things deflate within 12 hours, but it has been two and a half weeks and it is still afloat. I took that picture this morning!

So on the weekend I was standing underneath it and called Dante to me. "Hey, Dante, look at my Mother's Day balloon! Isn't it wonderful? It's still floating! What a great present that was!"

Dan said that the grin on Dante's face was priceless. He was so proud and happy. And I felt so relieved that I'd made him feel good about his present.

At times I am just the most awful mother - when I'm tired and cranky I just pick on all the little things and unfortunately Dante bears the brunt of most of it. "Sit properly! Stop shouting! Don't use your fingers to eat dinner! You're not a barbarian!" Ack. I hope that the nice moments will outweigh the bad ones and he'll remember me fondly in years to come.