Boom! Bang! Joojoojoo?

Haley has been looking forward to the 4th of July fireworks for some time.  She knows that they go hand in hand with her birthday, which she has also been looking forward to.

We had a discussion about whether or not it would be a good idea to take Haley shopping for fireworks before went to the stand, but we decided to try it.  She didn't understand the boxes.  It didn't mean much to her.  She kept saying "Fireworks?" kind of like, where are they?  She also didn't like the idea that we bought them the day before we used them.  She wanted instant gratification.  After all it sounded like everyone else in the town was already using theirs.

Haley's Big Sis went out of town for the weekend with some friends so it was just the three of us together for this holiday.  We didn't really do anything related to the holiday all day.  We were watching a movie after dinner and Haley was playing upstairs.  She came down after a while and sat with us.  Shadow was not happy about all of the noise so I was holding him.  He rolled over on to Haley's lap for a while so that was entertaining her.  As it was getting darker I could tell that Haley was getting a little restless.  The sounds outside were getting louder, closer and more persistent.  Finally it sounded like someone set off a firework in our front yard and I jumped.  I asked Haley if she thought we should join them and she said "Yeah."

We set up our lawn chairs in our driveway and Dad got out the fireworks we had bought.  We live on a culdesac, the center of which is the popular spot for setting off fireworks.  There were already several neighbors actively using it.   Haley's Dad took turns setting off fireworks with the other families.  Haley and I Oohed and Ahhed and Haley said "Joojoojoo."  I don't know where that came from, but she did it all night long.

After we had set off our last firework it seemed like the other neighbors were done as well so we went inside.  Haley didn't even fuss.  I told her we could watch out the window so we set ourselves up in front of our bedroom window and I got the cat and we all sat there and watched the fireworks.  Pretty soon that died down a little and we moved to a window in the back of the house.  That was not as fun so we decided to get our pajamas on.  I think if the show would have continued Haley would have watched it all night long, but as it was she went right to bed without a complaint.  The sounds lasted for at least another hour and half, but I never heard anything more from Haley.  I was very proud of her.