Cookie Thief

Despite my attempts to get my daughter to eat healthy snacks, she loves cookies. (And yes, I know the apple does NOT fall far from the tree!) Part of the reason she developed a love of cookies is thanks to my mom (and I did let her have graham crackers c.f. blog entry "Teddy Grahams"). My mom’s belief was that certain biscuits from Italy had vitamins in them and that the baby could use more vitamins. Of course, upon looking at the nutritional information of said cookies, there were, in fact, as I suspected, very few vitamins in them. 

However as my daughter’s food pickiness came into being, it became a debate of whether to give her something to eat (the vitamin cookie) or nothing at all. I opted for a cookie every now and then to give her an occasional treat. But like most things, when the cat (momma) is away, the mice (grandma) will (give the child cookie) play.  I discovered many cookies were being eaten and nibbled on when I was at work. 

Of course these food issues with my daughter are a power play that she’s getting away with on her grandma. I try my best to give her fruits and veggies and other things we eat, only to have her toss it to the dogs. My pooches are thrilled by this free for all, believe me. 

On occasion before I’ve even placed food on my daughter’s plate, she’s already made eye contact with the dogs and they sit under her high chair. The food goes from my hand in a direct path to the dog’s mouths. It’s great! Really! 

Lately what I’ve noticed is that my daughter takes her sweet time eating her cookies. This is pure temptation for my bigger dog, who is always hanging around my munchkin. M will walk around the apartment with a hand on the wall or her playpen and the other hand tightly grasping a cookie. When she takes too long, the big dog follows her around. Her face fixed on the cookie in hopes that the cookie will either drop on the floor. Or with the desire that my daughter will just give her the cookies after her hands get all steamed up from the dog’s hot breath on her fist. 

Once or twice, I’ve been there to witness the dog gently put her mouth around the treat in my daughter’s hand, my daughter giggles from the drool and opens her hand. The pooch has serenely digested the sweet snack satisfyingly and all is right again in the puppy universe. Score one for the canine. 

Last weekend my daughter walked back and forth in the apartment for about 15 minutes. She probably completed a mile of pitter-pattering with a gingerbread cookie in her hand. Throughout this little marathon, the dog walked on her side with her snout right above my daughter’s fist. A couple of times, my daughter shoved the dog’s face away from the cookie with her cookie-covered hand. This only made the dog salivate more. Over time and repetition of this same scene, the cookie became soggy and my daughter opened her hand to rub the drool off of her hands. The cookie fell to the floor. And score two for the canine!

Let’s look at the scoreboard:

M = 0;  pooch = 2!

I am pretty sure this game of cookie ball will continue for quite some time. At least until my daughter learns to keep her food to herself. I suppose I should be happy that she’s learning to share but it’s not quite how I imagined sharing to be taught to my daughter. It’s certainly not sharing by intimidation but by salivation.