What’s the difference between a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old?
September 5th, 2008
Those of you who have kids, or who have spent a lot of time around kids, know that they tend to be messy eaters. It’s true there are kids who are naturally fastidious, but I think they’re pretty rare. Most kids don’t mind a bit if they walk around all day with peanut butter smeared on their face or jelly in their hair.
Brenda and I walked with our girls after dinner to a new self-serve frozen-yogurt shop. You can pick your flavor of soft-serve yogurt (I got oatmeal cookie, which was delicious) and then there is a little toppings bar where you choose what you want and add it to your bowl. You pay by the ounce, which is brilliant.
Annalie got a little strawberry-kiwi, a little chocolate, and a little vanilla frozen yogurt. Then she added chocolate chips, mini M&M’s, rainbow sprinkles, Sno-Caps, gummi bears, peanuts, and chocolate syrup. I’m probably forgetting something. I’ll admit that my concoction was only a little less weird. Brenda and Bug loaded up with similar sundaes and we headed outside to a nearby bench to eat them.
Annalie isn’t the neatest eater in the world, but she does a pretty good job of keeping her clothes clean most of the time. Bug, however…well, she’s only two and a half, and she does not mind being a bit messy. Brenda, knowing she isn’t careful when she eats, put a bib on her tonight before she started eating her frozen yogurt.
We all sat on the bench eating our treats, Brenda and I chatting away about how funny it is that some kids are just naturally neat and some are just plain slobs when it comes to eating. There was a youngish (late teens/early 20s) couple sitting at the outside counter across the sidewalk from us eating their yogurt, and they kept shooting glances at Bug. Occasionally one of them would say something to the other like, “Wow, kids are messy,” or “That kid needs help.” We were keeping an eye on both kids and although Bug had chocolate all over her face, we didn’t notice anything seriously amiss. We assumed they were just like we were once—before we had kids—and were adding to their mental lists of Things My Kids Will Never Do. You know, that list that gets shredded pretty much the second you are alone with your newborn infant?
It wasn’t till we got up to throw containers away and wipe the stickiness off hands and faces that we realized that as Bug had been eating, drops of melted chocoalte yogurt were sliding down her oilcloth bib, pooling at the bottom edge, and then dripping off into her lap. When she got up she had a big chocolate spot on the front of her dress, and another on the back of her dress where it had soaked through as we were sitting there. Not to mention the chocolate all over her face. Oh well. It was going to be bathtime as soon as we got home anyway.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:08 am
I can remember being one of those young people shooting glances. How naive I was then!
And we went to one of those self-serve frozen-yogurt shops when we brought Isabelle to watch Wall-e. Our yogurts were extremely boring compared to yours.
September 5th, 2008 at 6:03 am
My kids both put their napkins in their laps - without being told - at the start of each meal. Woohoo! Then, they promptly forget about them and, without fervent reminders, would simply stand up (napkin sliding to floor) and leave when they are excused from the table. This year, my goal is to get them to actually USE their napkins, without having to be reminded. We’ll get them off the floor at the end of the meal next year…
September 5th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Last year around this time, my hubby and I went to San Diego and visited a self-serve, pay-by-the-ounce yogurt place there, I think it was called Yogurt World. We ended up going there three times in our 4 day visit!
I was one of those naturally fastidious kids. I think that wile my mother appreciated not having to clean up all the time, it drove her a little nuts about how cautious I was because she wanted me to let loose a little!
September 5th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Oh how cute. Thankfully for me, so far…, both my kids do not like to be dirty. Little Apple stuck her fingers in the icing on her cupcake last night and did not want it on her fingers at all. She kept holding them out to be wiped and finally started wiping on her bib. J still doesn’t like messy fingers and washes them all the time. Not a bad habit, but a little irritating sometimes when you really can’t see the dirt.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Personally, I don’t seem to care about the stains anymore. Only when it’s picture day or when we go to church do i care.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Graham? Clean eater. Nathan? SO MESSY. Dude is 4 and always has food all over his face.
LOVE the photos of the girls :)
September 5th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Ah, to be young and free of worry and fear of judgment… I long for those days. People look at me funny when I have chocolate all over my face. Heck, people look at me funny when I have a fuzz in my hair. You’d think it was a lizard or something.
The girls are adorable, as always. :)
September 5th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
See, now that’s what I look like when I meet a good chocolate cake.
Stain-stick is a chocolate lovers bestest friend.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I’m reminded of the lady in a movie (Patch Adams?) who wanted to bathe in noodles.
I’d like to bathe in chocolate. Hmmm.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Ha ha, sounds like my little squirts!
I am forever cleaning their faces in photo shop.
That ice cream place sounds devine, I can only imagine!