Claire has a day bed in her room. The headboard and foot board double as balance beams, at least Claire likes to think that they do. It has always made me nervous, but as a parent there are just some things you decide not to battle over. This is one of them for me. Well, this afternoon during her quiet time, Claire was practicing the "balance beam," and I heard a loud crash come from her room. When I walked in, she was sitting on the floor at the foot of her bed crying, but her face was wet with more than just tears. She was crying out, "My cup broke, and I don't have any more orange juice!" After checking for broken bones (more important to me at the moment than any broken cup), and finding Claire in perfect health, I asked her what she meant by her broken cup. Apparently, the force of her fall somehow ruptured a cup of orange juice I had given her for quiet time (it was well-equipped with a lid and a straw to be less messy). I realized then that her face was wet with orange juice. The cup was in two halves, each one on opposite sides of the room. Every bit of orange juice that was inside the cup had been sprayed all over her room. I have a feeling we will be finding sticky things for quite some time. We decided to lay off the balance beam for a while. I'm just thankful that the only thing Claire broke was her cup.
