Feeding the obsession

The wee guy keeps us entertained and on our toes on a daily basis.  One of his obsessions is with balls - if it's round and rolls, he's a BIG fan.
About a year ago we were driving through a series of pedestrian crossings and the wee guy said in his then-one-year-old vocabulary "Onna baw!!  Onna baw!!" and because I speak toddlerese (or wee-guyese??) I realised he was talking about the Orange Balls: orange ball-shaped lights seen at the top of pedestrian crossing posts.
Surprisingly (har har) this was an obsession that was not going to go away any time soon.  One sunny afternoon six months ago, my mother and I were subjected to protests for more of these, which were then called "Onna baw yights".  We'd taken the 'back' route home from a specialist appointment which took us through the 'burbs instead of via the motorway.
There were bloody heaps of the things.
As soon as we passed one of them he wanted to see the next one, like, NOW.
Gaaah.

So one day when the new kid was treating himself to a really long morning nap, the wee guy was treated to a stroke of creative genius that came to me.  My lovely mother, in all her tidy goodness, had sorted out my mess of gift wrapping supplies and there was a hard cardboard tube that no longer had any purpose in life.

Armed with white electrical tape, an orange ball, a black Super Vivid (permanent marker for non-NZ folk) and a bit of time, I made the wee guy his very own "Owinge Baw Yight".  (We've graduated from onna to owinge.)  He even (and if you know the wee guy you'll know this is a big deal) patiently stood next to me while I made it, and talked to him about what I was doing. 

 I was the most popular person in the world for a blissful few hours!  He even took it to bed with him at nap time.  So cute.

Some days it's an uphill battle.  Most days... I love my job.