Do you remember when all you needed was a little patch of green grass and a big balloon?
My fella sang to his big orange balloon – a squeaking, rollicking song about how his balloon was big, and it was orange and it was his and not the brothers’.
He also peered through the balloon and then stepped back, looked through again, and stepped back again. He did this over and over, smiling and entirely delighted that the world could go from green to orange, just like that.
He wondered if he let go of the string, would the balloon go all the way to the moon?
He jerked the string to make it dance.
He spun, and giggled, trailing his balloon behind him, and then he sat, his big orange balloon at his side, and he sighed, and he explained to the chickens that the word “lelium” just means, “special flying air.”
He told me, “the chickens don’t know about stuff like I do.”
True enough.
There are some moments, moments like these, that these little men of mine just break my heart and send it soaring all at once.
Little boys grow too quickly, and balloons, they never last – oh but what simple, perfect joy they each bring while we have them!
{ 31 comments }
ahh so sweet, this is the song I sing to my eldest all the time, it was his womb song, thanks for sharing this boy/mama moment!!
love the picture!!
What a sweet boy!
So true.
What beautiful words. Your little boy is just gorgeous. They really do grow up too fast, don’t they? But how lovely, to witness and share moments such as these…
Oh how my little ones love their HEB balloons too. Although, there is always a good chance we will lose one in the parking lot on the way back to the car. Glad to see that his made it home!
Love that blanket!
so sweet. for the record, i still like a balloon every now and again too.
“Little boys grow too quickly, and balloons, they never last..”
And how wonderful it is that you are recording these events in words and pictures to preserve them for a future time when the exact details have faded from memory.
I have been thinking a lot about little boys growing quickly too this summer- I wrote about it on my blog and found an amazing poem the other day- my son the man by sharon olds…shivers!
oh what a beautiful post. my little 2 yr old guy tugged his spiderman balloon around this house until it was a deflated heap (and then he tugged some more). and yes…it all goes way too fast!
i’m going to start getting my kids balloons.
thanks, sugar.
: )
Thanks for sharing your sentiments…little boys are indeed the sweetest!
i love moments like these so simple but yet so special too, its the little things like this that makes a mum smile, thanks for sharing it.
Aww, this one choked me up. I miss that facination they had with the simple things. They do grow quickly!!! Beautiful!
My boy is 8 and he still can play for hours with a balloon. He had to get multiple at the fair over the weekend and has played and played. Great pictures and post!
precious … balloons make everything better!! when my gals are done with there balloons , they have a tradition of sending them to heaven to let Jesus give them to any children up there!!! it brings a tear to my eye every time they tell me that :0)
I have one of those boys as well. Love him to bits, I do.
“and it was orange and it was his and not the brothers.”
Probably the best line of all – according to the li’l man himself.
wow. this is so precious. i love reading about you and you family. thanks for sharing. you really have the gift of writing.
so sweet, they can just melt your heart
your lawn is much too green for TX!
They do grow oh so quickly, but you have managed to capture one of those precious moments so well in your pictures and words.
Well put!
Aw, that was sweet. I remember those feelings of childhood. I’m glad I have little ones to experience that simplicity again. Love the blanket. And your grass is so green it looks unreal!
I love it. My little P “picks” a balloon from her seat in the car every time we go through town and drive past the car dealership!
Oh my! So sweet! Children and their balloons… and learning that they know things that others (even the chickens) don’t know… Wow… So sweet!
I just wrote an article on backyard chickens in my town… check it out!
http://wakeforest.mync.com/site/wakeforest/community/story/4989/backyard_chickens_in_wake_forest
I’ve also created a petition to try to get the ordinance changed. Wish me luck – I really want some hens of my own!
What I’m loving about this post is the communication between boy and chickens. I have two sons (1 and 3) and also as of this year, four chickens. I’ve heard my 3 year old explaining thunder to the chickens and seen him showing them how his trucks work. I’ve been loving reading about your experience with chickens as in many ways I see it mirroring mine. (You had me worried for a while that I was deluding myself that my RI Red is a hen! She is though. No rooster in our brood. Whew) I’m enjoying the rest of your posts as well. Thanks.
I’m a little late on getting my comment in on this one. But love the story, even dreamt about balloons the night after I read this. One of the many things I enjoy about having children in my life is the reminder to soak in the little moments, not just the little moments with them, but the way your son enjoyed his balloon, really experienced it, soaked it in. Children can do that more easily I think, allow themselves to be fully right where they are. I love this, and am striving for this in my own day to day living. So what I’m trying to say is, that I was inspired by your sons ability to live in that moment with his balloon, and blanket, and chickens.
*sniff sniff*
*sniff sniff*
You may not believe me, but I hadn’t seen that last post before mine before commenting!
OH, how I need to hear that this week. I need to read and remember how small they are, how much they grow so fast. My son is putting me through such a trying time right now with his separation anxiety, temper tantrums, and teething. I am at the point of exhaustion often. I keep trying to tell myself I will miss having a little man around! Thanks.
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