A balloon

Today we had our first pet.

Today AV's little world came crashing down around her, as well.

It was a puppy. A balloon puppy, but a puppy nonetheless. This little puppy came to us by way of her auntie who got him from a clown on her bus ride home from work. That isn't actually a joke at all. It is completely normal, if not expected, to encounter one or more clowns on a bus trip. They attempt to liven the journey with some jokes and pull your heartstrings and your wallet zippers to offer one or more coins for their humor. And sometimes, you just end up with a tiny blue balloon puppy as a consolation prize for your trip on public transportation.

Ana was stoked. The puppy got a name. I never quite caught or deciphered what the name was, but the wow-wow balloon puppy was instantly a part of her world. He ate lunch with us. He came to get a haircut with us. There was slight panic when he became covered with tiny pieces of hair that stuck instantly and permanently thanks to laws of static electricity. He had ice cream with us and helped us hang up the laundry.

It was decided that he would take a bath with AV, too. I noticed as we headed upstairs that puppy's tail was lacking the spunk it had had when I met him a few hours earlier. And then, it happened. Halfway through the bath, all covered in soap, so much joy in her little two-year-old heart.

Puppy became a worm.

Tears. Screams. A sadness so sad that I really tried not to laugh. Really I did, kind of.

A balloon! A balloon! A balloon! A balloon! The poor child screamed.

We had to talk about how the worm, I mean the puppy, was now going to be garbage. It's okay to be sad. It's okay to be disappointed. Maybe someday, some way, another balloon puppy will join our family.

And as quickly as it came, our first pet left our family. Daddy never even had the chance to meet it. I'm pretty sure we're going to stick to non-living pets, thank you very much.