Tinkerbell

We traveled to Hamilton, OH, this past weekend, and the girls got to visit with Mamaw and Papaw. Both of the girls travel pretty well, though after a while, Gillian can get tired of riding backward and half-reclined in her infant carseat. Allison Clare is endlessly entertained by television, so as long as she has a supply of DVDs and the occasional snack, she is fine. I've started packing her little Tinkerbell lunchbox with treats of the sort that we don't always have on hand at home, to offer at key moments.

This trip, the Tinkerbell box featured, among other things, those little freeze-dried yogurt melts for toddlers. Both kids like them, so Allison Clare got to hold the bag and every now and then I would ask her to give me a handful that I would kind of toss onto a blanket in Gillian's lap. And so we drove, Sam and I chatting and listening to music in the front seat, Gillian dozing or peering around in her seat, and AC mesmerized by the DVD player and the antics of Elmo and paying no attention to us at all. Or so I thought. Until I heard Gillian start wriggling around a bit fitfully, and I said to Sam, "I think Gillian is getting hungry." Then I heard a little voice pipe up from the backseat: "She don't like my food. She wants baby food." And then I looked back to see AC clutching her yogurt melts protectively.

I know she was speaking out of selfishness, and of course, sharing is a big part of what we are trying to teach Allison Clare these days. But every now and then I break character as Mommy and can't help but laugh out loud.