Thomas' First Broken Heart

We took Thomas and Elizabeth to the park today after eating out for lunch. They love, love the park. After swinging we went in search of "wa-wa." There is a winding creek with water falls and bridges throughout the park, and T and E will request finding the "wa-wa." As we journeyed to the first bridge Thomas spotted some balloons. Both T and E love balloons and can spot them from their car seats while traveling down the road. We headed toward the balloons and found a nice young woman decorating for her daughter's first birthday party. She was very generous and gave Thomas and Elizabeth each a balloon to play with. David wisely predicted the future at this point. We continued our journey as Thomas and Elizabeth played with their balloons. As predicted, Thomas' balloon popped.....gone....just like that. He looked around for it and burst into tears when he realized it was gone. His heart was clearly broken. He cried all the way back to the car. There was no consoling him...all attempts at redirection were futile. Elizabeth still had her balloon which only made things worse for Thomas. He cried most of the way home.

What a hard lesson for a toddler to learn. His balloon was gone. He didn't really understand why it happened......where it had gone. Thomas had a broken heart. There was nothing Mama or Dada could do to fix it. This was the first of many, I'm sure. Wish I could stop them all from happening, but that would be denying him the opportunity to develop character and strength...to learn how to deal with hardship and disappointment. Life is full of both.

I have said it before and will say it again. Parenting is the most humbling experience thus far.