So, I took the boys with me to Cost Plus World Market yesterday. If you have never been there, let me assure you that 99.9% of the merchandise within this store is highly breakable! Not only is everything breakable, the aisles are so narrow that California can reach shelves full of wine bottles to the left and shelves full of candle holders to the right with little effort, while securely restrained in the cart. So, I promised both boys a toy if they made good decisions and kept their hands to themselves. They did a great job! California chose a miniature chime that can be played with a mallet. Tennessee chose a gel filled squeeze ball, something similar to this ball from OfficePlayground.com:
We've had this ball for less than 24 hours and I hear a scream from the second floor landing...
"Mom, come upstairs NOW IT'S AN EMERGENCY!!!"
I say, "Are you bleeding?"
He says, "Nooo, hurry you need to see this!"
I say, "OK, just a second."
He says, "NOOOO it's an EMERGENCY!!"
I go upstairs to see a gooey mess on the floor. Tennessee demonstrated how sticky and strong this gooey mess was by stepping on it with his freshly showered foot (L.A. Mama shakes her head in disbelief and tells him to take another shower). His foot stuck to the carpet as he struggled to step away. WONDERFUL! I have no idea what is inside of these balls but it is something like silicone. 
I knew this needed heavy duty cleaning right away, so I headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy a steam cleaner. The cheapest one was $179. Of course, there was no one in sight to help me lug this machine into the cart and then into the car...but I managed on my own(all 5 feet and 90 pounds of me).
Daddio put it together:
California made a "boat" out of the box: 
...and Tennessee(the $179 mess maker)made an appearance. They say that the perpetrator usually returns to the scene of the crime, well in this case, he actually wanted to be photographed!
* A note to parents, grandparents, caregivers, gift givers...don't buy one of these seemingly harmless balls for a kid, just don't.
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