Letting Off Steam

A week flies by and I think back of what has been accomplished. Its a plethora of madness with a baby sprouting her first tooth, a toddler truly becoming a boy, me finding myself in new responsibilities at work and Chris being there to support us through it all. We are growing here and this is only the beginning of many great things to come.

We recently had a baby shower for my sister-in-law and brother to celebrate the upcoming birth of their baby boy (two weeks to go!).

And like many, it makes me think about when we welcomed our first into the world. How it really wasn’t as horrible as everyone made it out to be. How it really was amazing how little sleep we could survive on. And how quickly a few moments of attention put us all on a better path to enjoying life.

After the baby shower we had a lot of balloons around the house that I needed to pop and throw away.

I do not like the process of popping balloons – it scares the dog, it wakes babies, and really its just not relaxing to say the least. Ryder and I were having a hard time this particular day with our ideas for how the day should be fulfilled. I had a few work deadlines, he had a few trucks to bang around the house. I had a dozen e-mails to return, he had doors to slam, toys to be tossed, and a constant impression of a small violin. (whiny. There I said it.)

I finally realized that the day wasn’t going to be won by either of our personal agendas and it was time to let off some steam. I grabbed my camera and proceeded to pile all the balloons on the back deck.

I told Ryder to take them to the grass to be “tickled” and to see what happens to them when they touch the grass. You would have thought I handed him the moon. That boy took each balloon to its fate as if it was the most important and exciting event in his entire life.

Pop! Pop! POP! They each exploded. Only to be returned with belly laughs and giggling fits as he experimented with ways to destroy their existence. He alley-ooped them. He chucked them. He laid on them. He stomped them. He tossed them. And even floated them with patient delay. This task was his and he was owning it.

I have learned (and was yet again reminded) the importance of letting off steam. Of taking a step back. Of being present and acknowledging we were off kilter and needed some focused attention to get back on track.

The rest of the day went great. We were both more relaxed, we both cared a little less about our agendas, and we both had a good laugh about the exploding balloons.

With babies and child rearing you don’t wait until the next day to try again for a “perfect day”, you try again the next time they eat – and that happens in less than three hours. Sometimes days just require a reset button or in our case a reset-balloon.