Bounce House

We went to the "big" bounce house to schedule Paul's birthday party, and I promised Paul he would get to jump once we finished all of the administrative work. I should have emphasized ALL of the administrative work, and explained that meant he had to stand with me until I finished talking to the teenagers who run the place and go with him to the play area. Even that would have been confusing, because part of the administrative work involved looking at the monstrous play area and choosing which of the different rooms his guests would get to visit. I lost him. Literally. Lost. Him.


Once I finished the administrative work, which including talking to said teenagers while holding a screaming 1.5-year-old, Paul was nowhere to be found. I found his shoes. I looked in each of the rooms twice, carrying a still screaming 1.5-year-old, before I enlisted the help of the other moms. These were moms who could sit and happily chat while their well-behaved children jumped in plain view. Can they really see their children, or are they just not concerned? I don't know, but one of these moms found him for me. I'll take this to mean they really do know where their children are.


After a talking-to and a time-out while I went through one of the obstacle courses with now-happily-squealing TJ, Paul resumed play and stuck with me. Those boys wore me out. Paul can do everything without my help, but TJ needs help to climb over most of the hills. I bounced with them and wondered if I ever had so much energy.


The boys decided to look at the video games for a few minutes. (Thank goodness!) TJ checked out all the driving games and Paul locked on to the game in which the player swings a sword that's tethered to the game. I asked Paul which rooms he liked best and while he spoke, I looked around for TJ. I stopped listening and kept looking. He wasn't at any of the games or under any of the games. I lost another one.


I looked in the first room dragging Paul behind me, until I decided to leave Paul at the front with the sword game to "look out for TJ" and "grab him if you see him." Again, I looked in all the rooms, asked moms, and started to imagine horrible possibilities. Should I go ahead and call the police now? Am I wasting valuable time in this search and rescue? I grab Paul and ask him if he can find TJ. He does. TJ's on the third level of a playscape in the back room. Hooray Paul!!! Once we got TJ out of the playscape, which was no easy matter, we high-tailed it out of that place.


So, I hope all of Paul's friends will join us for a great time at the physically and emotionally-draining, kid-obscuring bounce house.


On a positive note, maybe I can tell Paul he's better at finding than I am next time I hear, "mom, where's my...?"