It is the remains in the wash that cause me to ponder these days. How did this end up in the washing machine? Was it in the pile of clothes that was scooped up with the pants and shirts that litter my children's room? Or was it just in my pocket, waiting to be thrown away after having been found lifeless? Or was it something more?
What more might it have been? Well the possibilities are endless to my three creative girls. A pretend ballet slipper is a popular choice. As is a doll's hat. Perhaps a cover for a small match box car? Their imaginations have no bounds as to how to use the small patch of super stretchy material.
At some point, each of my children have even been known to work very hard to inflate a balloon, with lots of stretching and pulling, puffing out their little cheeks and blowing with all their might. Only to immediately pop the balloon, so that it may be used for a different purpose. Apparently, an inflated balloon has a different stretch to it than an un-inflated balloon. I have been informed, on several occasions, that this is the ONLY way to make them into "slippers".
It is the stretch capacity of the balloon that determines what kind of slipper it will become, once put on a small foot. Some only cover the bottom of the foot, barely stretching over the toes, while other balloons completely cover a small foot, like a rubbery, very short sock. As the inventive stretching process progresses, some of the balloon may rip, leaving shreds. These are not thrown away, but reused so much that they begin to resemble the pads worn by modern dancers, only covering the ball of the foot. Not to mention, strings can be added, often reaching up to and possibly past, the knee in order to represent pointe shoes.
With three small, but well versed dancers, ballet slippers are also often found in abundance throughout my house. When combined with the odd found balloon remnant slipper, I seriously stop to wonder "why?". If they each have multiple pairs of ballet slippers, jazz shoes, cozy slippers and colorful sock, what is the excitement or reasoning behind a 'balloon slipper'?
The answer must lie in the innate curiosity and imaginative explorations of my three future blimp designers.