Pop Culture

So there we were, on the couch (Jay and I) having an adult conversation. It was around 5pm and our first opportunity today to really talk together, as I had headed off to help hostess a baby shower almost immediately after church. I had recently returned home and we were enjoying a few minutes of rest before the supper rush began.

Well it seems Abigail got it into her head that she really wanted some of the dainty little cookies I had baked for the shower and so she started begging us for a taste. We told her she would have to wait till after dinner. As soon as she heard this she decided dinner had to happen RIGHT NOW! So she began asking us to get supper ready. Well, we generally don’t dine at 5pm around here and so we asked her to please wait, while we turned our attention back to finishing our conversation. All was quiet for a few moments and we relished the brief interlude. We soon learned the reason for the quiet when our two little redheaded children reappeared in the living room, each bearing a poptart with a few bites taken out.

“See??” Abigail exclaimed, “We got our supper!”

Now normally such behavior would not be overlooked in our household. It is not generally acceptable around here for children to rummage in the pantry for food without first consulting their parents. However, we were both so exhausted that we felt almost unable to protest.

“Ok, go sit at the table to eat your poptarts,” said Jay, smiling broadly. I could see the normal order of things slipping away before my eyes but I was too tired to even comment.

Four little feet skipped happily into the kitchen and two tiny bottoms obediently plopped themselves into their booster seats. When the well balanced meal was finished, Abigail again made her request for cookies. Her desire was granted (yes, I am ashamed to admit the parental units were STILL on the couch, talking!) and being the resourceful girl of 4 years that she is, she helped herself and Jonathan to one cookie each. She also very thoughtfully set their cups of milk on the table for them to drink.

In a few more minutes, Abigail returned to the living room to tell us “We have finished our supper! I’m going to wash my hands now. You’ll need to wash Jonathan’s hands and face before he gets down from the table.”

Pretty nifty, eh? So, how soon do you think she’ll be ready for babysitting? I figure as soon as she can get the diaper-changing thing down, we should be good to go out for an evening and leave her in charge!

As an aside, it should be noted that the lazy parents did drag themselves away from their frivolous conversation to attend to the needs of the household. The first thing we did was to all enjoy another supper together, this time featuring all four food groups!

3 Replies to “Pop Culture”

  1. Well, you finally cranked out a full-length blog. I wasn’t sure what was to become of this site, but I gotta say that story was a winner. Tell Abigail she can have pop tarts for dinner anytime she visits me at A&M!

  2. “It is not generally acceptable around here for children to rummage in the pantry for food without first consulting their parents”

    That’s easy when the kids are small. But if you do what we (and a few others in our extended family) did and have another child after a long break (read 10 years), then the last one just does what the older (teenagers) are permitted to do. We lost this one.

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