The Tale of the “Boomie”

So one day my son got a balloon; and he loved his balloon. Only he didn’t call it balloon, he called it, “boomie,” because that’s what he could say.

When he played with it, he would let it go and let it float up and hit the ceiling. Of course, we could always get it down for him and he got lots of enjoyment out of this activity.

Later that day we were going to go bye-bye, and my son and I headed to the car. Normally I help him (a.k.a. carry him), but I was carrying lots of stuff to the car so I went ahead of him. He stayed behind with his “boomie.” I unloaded my arms, and then went back to get him where he was standing on the sidewalk. 

Before I reached him he suddenly let his “boomie” go into the air, not realizing what would happen. I watched as the balloon flew away and my son just called after it, “Boomie, boomie.” He was not upset, because he could still see it, and in his mind, I think he thought he could still get it. After some time, the balloon flew so far that we could no longer see it, and THEN my son realized what letting his balloon go had meant. 

This is basically what it looked like, only
without the airplane

At first his cries just became sadder, “Boomie? Boomie?” And then he dissolved into tears. Having witnessed the whole thing, including his delayed comprehension of what had happened, it was all I could do to take him in my arms and feel for this boy and his lost “boomie.” It wouldn’t do any good at this point to lecture him or blame him, and so I was just sad with him, “You lost your boomie, huh? It went bye-bye.” 

Soon we left, and he was still sad about it. We continued to validate and eventually his mind was on other things. The funny part was, he continued to bring it up! That night when we’re putting him to bed, “Boomie, boomie?” The next day in the car again, “Boomie?” Whenever we would stand at the spot where he lost it, “Boomie!” 

And so it went for a couple of weeks. He now is no longer sad about having lost it, but he is excited about getting a new one. Back when he lost that one we promised we would get a new one, but haven’t made good on that promise yet. But he continues to remind us, and he even decided that he wants a “wed” (red) one. The old one was blue, in case you were wondering. 

Moral of the story? Don’t let go of your balloon, but if someone does, don’t make them feel worse than they already do about it.