Daddy's Fish BowlA Clear View Of A Father's Family Experiences

This is the post I had planned to write about regarding this weekend, before the Massacre at Mount Stinky Pants took place.

Children are extremely fickle creatures when concerning certain things, especially at younger ages.  This makes it difficult to stick with a simple routine for long.  Just when you think that you have it down pack, they’ll change up and it’s back to the drawing board.  But as parents, we quickly pick our heads up and fight through the confusion.  Confusion such as, the Elmo chair that your child has been sitting in everyday for the past 4 months has suddenly become his sworn enemy and can no longer be in the same room as him.  They change, we adapt; goodbye Elmo, it was fun while it lasted!

Tre is probably ready to trade me in just like Elmo, but hasn’t figured out how to go about doing it yet.  So instead, he tortures me with his ever changing habits that I don’t learn about until it’s too late.  Since I work during the week, I’m not privy to the changes that take place for the breakfast routine.  I try to help out on the weekends and it’s always the same thing; Tre wants cereal in a bowl, just plain dry cereal.  This has been the case since the dawn of time.  As time went on, I would quickly adapt to the ever increasing number of bowls he would eat, but that wasn’t a major change and I could handle it.  But two weeks ago, things turned left and I wasn’t ready for it. 

I figured that I’d be a good husband and wake up with the kids so Fefe could sleep in.  See that was my first mistake, good guys always finish last and Tre was sure to remind me of that.  So I wake up and take the boys downstairs and start getting breakfast ready.  I made “Cream of Wheat” for Ty or Cream of LEET as he calls it and a bowl of DRY cereal for Tre (as always).  I put his “Apple Jacks” cereal on the table in front of him and he just said “No”.  I’m thinking, well what’s wrong, maybe he just isn’t hungry.  So I take the bowl away and he says “more”.  Now I’m starting to really get confused, I give him the cereal back and he screams out another “No” before dumping the entire contents of the bowl onto the floor.  Now I’m pissed, but keep my composure; “maybe he wants a different kind of cereal”, I say to myself.  So I prepare some “Cinnamon Toast Crunch” this time.  Again, “NO NO NO” but it’s also followed by frantic crying.  Now I don’t know what to do, why oh why did I get out of bed first this morning.  Trying to be nice and this is the thanks I get!

Fefe heard the ruckus, woke up, and came downstairs.  It was like the cavalry had arrived, she was here to save the day.  With one quick swoop, she poured some milk into his bowl and he was happy as can be.  She tells me that he won’t eat his cereal dry anymore.  I’m like where did he get that idea from and she explains that a few days ago she thought it’d be cool to add milk, and he’s been hooked ever since.  Great, with the amount of cereal this boy consumes, you “thought it’d be cool” to add milk?  Have you guys seen the price of milk lately?  A gallon of milk is more expensive than a gallon of gas and this woman (the woman that I love by the way) decides that its time to take our already high milk consumption to the next level.  Ah well, so be it, this is life.

So this past weekend, I’m ready, like, “yeah, I got you figured out little guy, you’re going down”.  Same routine as last weekend, but this time I had the secret weapon ready, I had milk on my side.  I give Tre some cereal with milk and wouldn’t you know it, the SAME FREAKING THING HAPPENED!  He yells out “No” and now I’m pissed.  I just don’t get it, last week he was upset because there was no milk in his cereal, this week I give him milk and he still isn’t happy.  So again, I try a different brand and again, it’s to no avail.  Then a light bulb goes off and I try dry cereal.  All is well, he’s a happy camper and I’m confused as ever.  As it turns out, his milk fascination wasn’t so permanent after all and he had switched back to his original routine.  Whew, at least I can get rid of those milk stock options now.  Or can I, we’ll see how long it takes before another change occurs.

I honestly thought our milk consumption was bad until yesterday when I read about another Dad and his endless milk inventory, check it out here.