Past Posting - A version of this post was originally written on 7/15/05

OK. I had my first bad-mama experience on Peanut's first night here.


Another Kidsave parent bought all the kid's balloons and I promptly let go of it. Peanut said to one of the translators that he wanted his balloon. Not being 15 feet tall I was unable to retrieve it. So, my Irish Catholic guilt got the best of me and not long after Peanut woke up on his first day here we were off to the store for not 1, not 2, but 3 replacement balloons.

I was so worried that he was going to be nervous when he woke up - having slept through everything last night he hadn't seen the house, his room, or anything. But a closet full of toys does wonders for calming nerves. When I pulled out the Operation game he was just thrilled with the play money. I didn't really know why until he tried to use it to buy the aforementioned balloons.

After buying the balloons (I slipped some real money in with the Operation dollars) we went to my parent's house. Peanut started calling my dad "Papa" which isn't right - he's "Dedushka" really, but that's OK. Papa or Dedushka - it was love at first sight. The two of them are like peas and carrots. Or maybe they're like borscht and sour cream.

On the way home from Papa and Baba's Peanut accidentally sent one of new balloons out the car window. Glad I bought 2 extra. When we got home, he let go of another. Thank goodness for the final backup. Within an hour he popped the third. Poor deflated Daffy Duck. I guess Peanut and balloons just don't mix!