Forgot to tell this story (which happened about two weeks ago).
Sunday morning I was fixing Addie and I some breakfast. I had a really nice spread: eggs, toast, some chicken sausage and fruit. I was placing it little by little on her tray as I was preparing everything, so that it would keep her occupied while I was still cooking. The way our kitchen in designed, my back is facing her high chair while I am at the stove. (necessary visual image) When she had moved on to the fruit portion of her meal she started making some very audible noises. This is not uncommon when she truly enjoys the food she is eating.
As I turned to deliver her next course I stopped dead in my tracks. Sprinkled throughout the
cantaloupe that I had placed on her tray were bits of kibble... dog kibble. See, Snoopy is the teenager of the house and refuses to wake up and eat with the rest of the dogs in the morning. He prefers brunch to breakfast. I usually set his food bowl on the kitchen table to that the rest of the dogs don't eat two meals at once. Well it was a little too close to the high chair apparently because Miss Sticky Fingers Goldberg snatched his bowl, dumped it on her tray, and BY THE HANDFUL was shoving dog food into her mouth. To make matters worse, we mix our dog's dry food with wet canned dog food. So she had smeared wet dog food all over her face. And was licking it off her fingers.
I rushed over and did the first thing I could think of (besides
suppress my gag reflex) and squeeze her cheeks to have her spit out the
Iams. At least 6 pieces of dry food came flying out of her mouth like a cannon. She screamed at the audacity that I would remove such a delicacy from her mouth and shoved more in. I took my finger and scooped the new bits out of her mouth, along with a huge chunk of wet food. She shouted and shook her head, then tried to cover the remaining chunks of food on her tray; to prevent me from confiscating them I suppose.
After a slight skirmish in which I had to wrangle the tray away from her, clean out the inside of her mouth with a wet paper towel and then replace her canine cuisine with her regular human fare, I paused to reflect. Alex would have LOVED this. He would have been no help whatsoever, but he would have been on the floor laughing hysterically.
The best part, after I gave her all new food and cleaned her up, she continued to point to Snoopy's bowl and turn away from her real breakfast. I finally had to tell her, "No more dog food, eat Addie's food." Words I never thought I'd have to say to my daughter.
Addie and I finished the Sweetheart 5k today amidst the snow, sleet and constant wind. Now that we were armed with her stroller bubble I was not as worried that we would have a meltdown like we did during the Jingle Bell Jog. But still flashbacks of her earlier escapade in December were flashing through my head especially when we passed the Sheriff's squad cars. However, through it all we managed to finish in 32:30. Less than 11 minutes a mile so that is all I cared about!
