Simon has loved bubbles since he got some for Easter. He really just likes holding the bubble wand and putting it in and out of the tube. He can't aim his breathe well enough to actually blow the bubbles, and the bubble tube at this point is empty since he spilled it all on the first day. Nevertheless, he will wave the wand in the air saying, "Look! Bubbles!" The fact that no bubbles ever emerge has not dampened his joy at all.
Then, for unknown reasons, his love of the bubble tube and wand grew to unhealthy proportions this week. He would cry if he found the wand but couldn't find the tube. He would fill the tube up with water from the water table on the porch, to pretend it was full of bubble solution, then spill it all over the floor in the house. When I wouldn't let him out on the porch to fill it up, he tried to fill it up from the water in my toilet. He would run away shrieking if you tried to take the tube from him, and at mealtimes and bedtime he would cry when you took it away.
Things escalated Saturday evening when Alice asked to sit out front and blow bubbles while Zac finished making supper. I figured Simon was already obsessed, it wouldn't hurt much to give him actual bubbles (there was one tube left for him and Alice that hadn't been spilled or broken yet).
We had a nice time in the front yard, enjoying the nice weather and blowing bubbles.
But when we took away the bubbles at supper time, Simon threw a fit. This is video of him after he'd already been crying for about five minutes.
He eventually calmed down and ate supper, so we let him have the bubbles again after supper, and he even took them with him to the bath. But when it was time to say goodbye to the bubbles, Simon refused to cooperate.
I guess I thought his obsession would wane after a while, but since that didn't seem to be happening, I decided to just make all the bubbles disappear. After the kids were in bed, I found all the bubble containers and wands and hid them in the back of the closet.
Simon did ask for them the next day, and would look for them in the bathroom several times, but I just told him they were all gone. He reverted to his normal, happy self and went back to playing with trains, which he loves, but parts with easily.
