As anyone with a toddler will tell you, they are beady eyed curious little creatures, always watching and waiting…watching for you to sneak a snack, and waiting for you to slip up while doing so.
The afternoon will see me covertly sipping my chocolate milk in the kitchen, keeping an ear open for the approaching pitter-patter of little feet, or secretly eating a biscuit before naptime, chewing it quietly and without moving my mouth, so much so that I could actually consider a career in ventriloquism.
I finally get the toddler to sleep for her afternoon nap, and the three month old is curled up asleep on my chest. I settle down for a bit of a break with a bowl of NikNaks, but I let my guard down a little, the weariness of a newborn is clearly taking its toll. I have learnt to dispose of any snacking evidence before she wakes, but it’s more difficult to do that now and I’m not prepared for the mini Sherlock Holmes when she wakes.
“What’s this Mom?” she casually asks. My heart races…just play it cool…she’s got nothing on you. “Nothing, just a bowl,” I reply, avoiding eye contact. Miss detective’s curiosity isn’t satisfied, that or she has already learnt to read the guilty look on my face. She looks closer inside the bowl and I kid you not she actually runs her finger along the bottom so that she gets a faint orange dusting of the chips. She holds it up to me pointedly. No words needed. I am busted.
Later that week we enjoyed some ice cream after the kids had gone to sleep. The next morning the madam was casually browsing the left-over dirty dishes and ol’ eagle eye spotted the dirty ice cream scoop. “Have ice cream last night Mom?” Guilty as charged!
Now that Amy is at school for the mornings I thought it was safe to sneak a snack with just the little one at home. But since he started crawling he comes looking for me and has already caught me red-handed more than once, and he wants to share the loot too! Pretty soon he will be able to talk and then it will be a case of two against one. Time to up my game. Any tips?
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