Gullible kid or mean mom? The other day I wanted Hayden to wear his new red shirt. Of course he already had on one of his Yankees shirts so he adamantly refused to wear the shirt I wanted him to put on. So a little later he wanted me to blow up a balloon with the new mini-helium tank I bought. He stood eagerly in front of me holding the bag of balloons that came with the tank. "Mommy, can you read the instructions to me?" I look at the bag for a second. There are instructions in various languages and a sentence that says, "See tank box for English instructions". So I decide to wing it. In a voice that sounds like I'm reading, "Step 1, put on a red shirt. Step 2, remove balloon from bag. Step 3, open valve on helium tank..." Hayden looks at me curiously. "I guess you have to be wearing a red shirt first" I say with all seriousness. He pauses, just for a moment, to ponder his course of action. "Could you help me put on my red shirt Mommy?" It was all I could do to keep from laughing. It isn't supposed to be this easy, is it? So he put the red shirt on and I blew up the balloon. Of course, if somebody else goes to blow up a balloon for him, they're going to think he's a nut if he tells them he needs to put on his red shirt first. Isn't it neat how when you have kids you can create your own little world of zany rules and if you don't let them out of the house too much, they'll never know any better?