The eerieness of super-helium

Almost 3 years ago, for Katie's second birthday, I bought a boquet of balloons the night before her party, so I would have one less thing to run around doing on the day of her party. That was when I discovered that regular helium doesn't last that long. The balloons were all at eye level the next morning--like sad, wilting flowers--much to my surprise and dismay. Somewhere along the line, we discovered super-helium...or "high-float" helium, as they call it at our local candy/balloon store, "Sweet Dreams". Well, now it is two weeks and counting since Erin's 2nd birthday partyand those balloons are still lingering, ceiling height, around our house (see--the second one always benifits from the trials and tribulations of the first) . But it doesn't seem right--this being one week from Christmas eve and all. It's kind of strange. They've long since lost their appeal to the girls, these super-helium balloons. They've taken on the air of some supernatural phenomenon better to be ignored, or regarded as just another aspect of our home decor.

A Banjo-tam for Eri!

When I got home from work last night, Emily told me little Eri asked for a Banjo for her birthday. What a request! She will be two on Saturday and a banjo seems a bit of an advanced request for such a little peanut. Then again, she loves the song "Old Susana" and is often commanding me to "go to car and get it" from the CD player, and as noted on the side, Elmo's Country songs features a talking banjo and a real live banjo playing rendition of said classic.

Anyway the idea has been stuck in my head ever since, so during my lunch hour I did some googling to see what I could see, and I learned a smidgen about a variety of banjo like instruments and kids and banjos. My first search was for "banjo for kids" which lead me to this toy banjo which looked just a little too clunky and toy like, and not really that musical. I also came across a Barney Banjo, which thank god is not available anymore. Then I googled for "baby banjo" and that lead me to this page which discusses "backpacking banjos" , "travel banjos" and, bingo, "mandobanjos". Now those look like the right size. But this is for a 2 year old so it's not prudent to spend $579+ for a fine musical instrument. Finally, I came across the amazing "Banjo-tam" on e-bay, and bingo--baby's gettin' a banjo!