Since I was a baby, I was always drawn to round objects and my favourite toys were balls. I was not interested in throwing them or rolling them. All I wanted to do was to hold them in my hands and feel their round surface.
When I was about two, my parents took me to the children’s play area in a large shopping mall. There was a bouncy house full of colourful balls designed for toddlers, and knowing my love of balls, they put me in there.
It was a paradise for me to be surrounded by so many balls of different colours. I sat in the sea of balls, picking up different balls and feeling their surface. There were a few other toddlers in the bouncy house. They seemed to be interested in playing with me, but I was too busy with my collection of balls to pay attention.
Some time passed like that, then suddenly I felt the urge to pee. Even though I was a toddler, I was old enough to know that I had to go to a special place to pee and in this case the correct solution would be to call my parents who were watching me from outside. But I was concerned that if I called my parents, they would take me out of the bouncy house and would not allow me to come back.
I thought hard. Should I call my parents or should I just stay here? My infant brain told me that I should call my parents. But my temptation told me to stay with the balls a little longer. Finally, I couldn’t hold back anymore. I searched for a place where there was nobody else and there were more layers of balls. Once I reached there, I sat down and peed among the balls.
Tension released, I started to play with the balls again. But soon my parents called me and I was taken out from the bouncy house.
I don’t remember what happened after that. But later, my parents told me the reason why they decided to call me out was because they felt suspicious seeing me suddenly alone and quiet sitting in the pool of balls. My parents’ intuition clearly outsmarted my infant’s strategy that day.