Dessert

Having our grandchildren living close to us now has brought back a lot of family memories from my own childhood, especially dinner table memories. Remember being reminded to sit up straight at the table? And not to chew with your mouth open? Or talk with your mouth full? Remember being given foods you didn't care for and being urged to clean your plate? Remember negotiating for dessert before dinner had even been served?

This last, I remember particularly well. Eating dinner was often dependent on whether or not I'd be getting dessert - I was a better eater if there was a threat of no dessert hanging over my head. Even now in a restaurant, I will often read the dessert menu before making my dinner choice; if the dessert choices are tempting, better to leave room!

Having been given so few choices in my eating when I was growing up, I am determined not to repeat that with these two. I figure it's a grandparent's privilege to relax the rules a little bit. So, when they asked for an ice cream treat after dinner, My Beloved and The Pushover (that would be me) agreed.

Did you know that they make blue ice cream now?  Not only that, but it tastes blue, too! Truly vile, but you wouldn't know that by his enthusiastic response. He ate the whole scoop, and what he didn't eat, he got through capillary action from the part smeared on his face. We didn't even bother to wash his hands, just popped him in the bathtub as soon as we got him home.