Too Sweet for Words

LR went on a field-trip with his school the other day. They went to a local farm, had a hayride and picked fresh strawberries. Why didn't my school do cool things like that?? Anyway, that afternoon, when I asked him if he wanted to eat some of them he said "Yes" and insisted that I wash five of them. I knew there was no chance of him eating five strawberries. While he's remarkably good about eating a wide variety of foods, and about trying new ones, getting him to eat anything in quantity has always been.....um, trying. Being a good Daddy (And one who's learned the hard way about picking his battles; this one didn't even come close) I proceeded to wash five of them figuring I could always eat whatever he didn't. That was apparently the plan all along. He categorically refused to eat more than one, saying that the rest were all "for Daddy." I thanked him several times for sharing. But, despite being an incredibly sweet gesture, I didn't think too much about it because one of his best qualities is that he will almost always offer to share whatever he's eating, even chocolate.

But tonight, after we got him to sleep, I realized that we had forgotten to give him more of his strawberries. Time was very much of the essence because they were all very ripe to begin with and apparently four-year-old fingers tend to squish very ripe strawberries. But my wife corrected me. It turns out that she had offered them to him more than once today and was turned down each time. Why? "They're Daddy's strawberries. I picked them for Daddy."

He may not know it yet, but he's got a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for at least a week.