Globophobia

Defined as "a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of balloons, despite the understanding by the phobic individual and reassurance by others that there is no danger." Sound silly? Hey, stop laughing! That's my daughter you're laughing at. Yes, it appears to be true. My dear Genevieve might just be a globophobic. I know. The bully. The fearless child. The "dive head first in to a coffee table because I want what's on the other side" kid. She's always been shy about balloons, which is extremely noticeable because of how much Arianna loves them. But now that they're moving around it's even more obvious. We went to Gina's uncle's house for his birthday on Tuesday and we came home with a bunch of balloons because Arianna couldn't stand to be separated from them. Genevieve, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with them. Making it a point to keep her body as far away from them as possible. If you walked by them while holding her she would lean back in the opposite direction and just stare at them, like if she turned her back they would come after her. It was even worse yesterday. By the time everyone got home in the afternoon the balloons were now on the floor as they were losing their helium. How dare they! Those inflatable bastards, coming down to her floor! As she screamed and fussed I came in to try and calm her down (Gina had to get dinner going so she could get out the door for her class so she couldn't protect her any longer). As Arianna frolicked through the inflatable playground Genevieve stood behind me, clutching my shirt in a death grip and peeking around my shoulder to watch her. I don't recall any catastrophes with balloons in the last 11 months, but she sure has some deep seeded hatred of them. Maybe she's afraid they're going to carry her away. Maybe she's afraid they're going to smoother her. Maybe she thinks they resemble the womb and she's not going back to that dark place. I don't know what it is, but man is it deep. I don't know what we're going to do for the birthday party. How can we have a kids birthday party with out balloons? Maybe we'll just fill the dog and cats with hot air and tie them to the chairs. At least we know she likes the animals.
Watch Walk Update 2010
Ladies and Gentlemen, just when it seemed we were ready to crown a winner in this race, suddenly things have never looked closer. Yesterday Gina reported Genevieve had walked from her mother's kitchen, through the dinning room and into the sitting room all under her own balance. She also reported that she'd not seen Arianna walk more than a step or two in days. As I was ready to call this race in favor of the dark horse, the favorite suddenly pulled even last night with an unprecedented display of walking prowess. From 5pm until 7pm she spent the vast majority of her time on her feet, much of it moving in a forward motion. She walked across the bedroom, she walked across the kitchen, the living room, the dinning room, to the 30, the 20, the 10, TOUCHDOWN!!! Sorry. ... caught up in the moment. So as it stands, these two are dead even with no one clearly ready to take the crown. Who will take the gold and forever be known as the first walker? Why me of course! I started walking well over 27 years ago. Take that babies.