The J Spotter

Children love balls and round objects. This realization comes with being a new dad. Ever since my daughter Sofia learned how to roll over, crawl, and sit up, she had always been fascinated by balls and balloons. In fact, I could credit the fact that she was able to start standing up unsupported to a large beach ball that her uncle gave her on her 10th month. She would always crawl around and follow the ball whenever it rolled away. And once she gets to catch the ball (which was about eye level from her point of view back then), she usually tries to mount it--hence her learning to stand up and walk at this early age.

This fascination with balls and other round objects had been become to be both of a boon and a bane to Caren (my beloved wife) and me. We could usually pacify Sofia with a ball or balloon (not that she always needs pacifying). But these items could also be troublesome, as she sometimes seems inseparable with her toys (and worse, with that of others). So whenever we visit a mall or toy store, we would actively try to avoid the ball and balloon areas. For in the instance she sees balls or balloons, she would exclaim "ball," or "balloon," and it would be quite difficult to distract Sofia from trying to pick an item for herself. The same is true whenever she sees balls or balloons on display or with other children. To date, I think we had bought about 10 separate sets of balls for Sofia, in those fateful encounters in malls and toy stores. We try to remind ourselves to bring along even a small ball for her to hold whenever we go out, so we won't have to buy a new one, but we always seem to forget.

As for balloons, we never seem to leave a birthday party without balloons in tow. We now learned that different balloons have different life spans. There are those that last only for three days. And there are those that last for over a month. It's quite a sorrowful experience for us when we have to put a balloon to sleep (popping or piercing with a needle) because of old age. But we explain to Sofia that we have to, or else the old balloons may pose a danger to her health.

Anyway, Sofia has good taste. She has a wide range of balls, from small to large, but always colorful. She even has a medium-sized rubber ball with soft rubber spikes sticking out (imagine if these were hard spikes--ouch). She opts for the brighter-colored and glossy balloons.

When I was younger, I always wondered why balloons and colorful balls clicked so much with young children. Now I still wonder. But along with this comes a feeling of warmth in my heart whenever I see my daughter happy and contented with her round friends.

Angelo

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 07, 2004 at 09:07. There are . Post a Comment if you have something interesting to say. Read the J Spot for Angelo's writings on tech stuff.