The kids and I were having a discussion about flying, and we started talking about how many helium balloons we thought it would take to send one of their stuffed animals into flight. We decided to go to the dollar store and have a bunch of balloons filled with helium and do some experiments. After much deliberation, it was determined that Sarah's cheap garage sale penguin, Plop, would be the passenger.
Noah thought I should write a note and attach it to Plop, asking whoever found it to call us so we'd know how far it went. As I was tying the note to the bird, Noah started crying. He said it was too sad to let Plop go and suggested that we find something else. We scoured the house (again) looking for a suitable animal for the flight. We found an old beanie baby bull that no one cared about or would have missed, but Noah's waterworks started again at the thought of the bull flying into the wild blue yonder.
Several tries and a LONG time later, we finally hit upon something which held no emotional attachment for Noah: an empty egg carton. We predicted how many balloons it would take to achieve liftoff, and then we tied them on, one by one, testing after each addition. Balloon #5 dragged the egg carton off the patio, across the yard, and into the fence. Balloon #6 took it soaring over the rooftops, over the electric wires (fortunately), and out of sight. Sarah waved to it and yelled, "Goodbye forever!" with no emotion whatsoever. I thought that might start Noah flowing again, but he was fine.
No comments:
Post a Comment