Balloon Popping

I went to daycare today to watch the kids perform what they learned in their music class with Mr. Dave (even though Ivan didn’t want to take part in it, but that’s a different post).

After the performance and the snack, some kids went home, while a few remained.
Isabella and Margaret wanted two balloons that were on their cubbies. One of the balloons was actually Ivan’s but I didn’t know that. It was on his cubby, but he didn’t express interest in it until the girls wanted to play with them. He was busy washing dishes and cooking food. (He kept washing dishes and cooking food for almost one hour. I even had to sit down in a chair he told me to sit in so he could serve me food. I couldn’t convince him to go home—neither the two minute heads up, nor the counting worked. Finally, I started walking out and he followed me.)

Isabella got his balloon and started playing with it. He turned to her several times and told her very seriously and determinately, “Don’t pop my balloon.”

Of course, Isabella eventually popped the balloon. Ivan started crying and dissolved into a meltdown. Isabella then started crying, and ran to sit in the “thinking chair,” in other words, the time out. Ms. Norma, luckily, had another balloon, which she blew up for Ivan. I went to console Isabella, explaining that it wasn’t her fault that the balloon popped, that she didn’t do it on purpose.

“They always cry, when they sit there,” this deep voice appeared out of nowhere, pointing to Isabella with a plastic saw. It was Creighton. He was so serious. His demeanor reminded me of those 1940 detective flicks. It cracked me up.

Everything calmed down. Ivan was back washing dishes and cooking, and absolutely not paying attention to the second balloon Ms. Norma gave him. A few minutes later, Alina, Erica’s younger sister who’s two, got a hold of his balloon. He told her to be careful not to pop it. She popped it. Ivan melted down. Erica went to scold Alina and told her she needs to go to time out. But she didn’t. Ms. Norma came to the rescue with yet another balloon for Ivan. This was the last balloon she had, so once it was blown, I put it on Ivan’s cubby. He continued cooking.

A few minutes later, Isabella started playing with her balloon. She and I started tossing the balloon back and forth. She eventually popped it. Meanwhile, Ivan continued to cook.