Fool Me Once

Abbie pulled a gallon of milk from the refrigerator today. This could’ve turned into a bad situation if she had yanked the lid off the top and spilled milk into our kitchen’s various hard to reach nooks. That’s why I try to keep the refrigerator locked. Sometimes I forget to lock it, though, and Abbie has a talent for taking advantage of my forgetfulness by pulling the door open every time.

Fortunately, Abbie was well behaved this time. She handed the jug to me, and said, “I want milk, please.”

I’m trying to encourage her to use regular cups at mealtime again. I give her a tiny splash of milk in a regular cup so if she accidentally or otherwise spills her milk, the damage will be minimal. My intention is to refill her cup every time she empties it the right way, but she rarely drinks it all. The result is she drinks almost no milk at mealtime, so when she asks for milk between meals, I usually oblige. I give it to her in a sippy cup in these between meal snacks, which may explain why she drinks almost no milk at mealtime.

The problem today was she pulled the boys’ whole milk with the red cap from the refrigerator. I explained to her that this was her brothers’ milk, and I would be happy to give her a drink of her skim milk with the pink cap. I poured her a sippy cup of skim milk and offered it to her.

Abbie shook her head no. “I want the red milk, please.”

I explained that that milk was for her brothers, but she wouldn’t listen. She wanted the red milk, and was too smart to settle for anything less.

I pulled the red jug of milk out of the refrigerator in full view of her. I set the sippy cup full of skim milk on the counter, and removed the lid. I then tipped the jug of whole milk over the cup, tilting the spout toward the cup’s opening until the whole milk almost poured out. I returned the lid to the cup and the milk jug to the refrigerator, and offered Abbie the cup of “red” milk. She happily drank it.

I’m still smarter than she is.