The cat that got the cream
“I am be like!”
“Really! What do you like dear?”
“I bin dun like dah cream!”
Oh no! Don’t tell me ‘bin dun’ is back to haunt us again, one of this pre-emptory terms equivalent to ‘er.’ I look at my little neophobe and his 15 foods. Verily the child doth lie through his little wonky baby teeth.
“Indeed!”
Oddly enough he picks up on my tone of skepticism, as does his brother, who dives in to defend, encourage and elucidate.
“Yeah Mom we are have ice-cream in school today.”
“Ice-cream!”
So much for the ‘healthy food in school policy,’ that didn’t last a whisker.
“How come you had ice-cream?”
“Coz it was Tim’s birthday.”
“Ah.”
“It wuz a birthday treat.”
“Nice explaining dear. Surely he didn’t eat ice-cream?” I ask over his brother’s head in a need to determine the real truth of the matter.
“No….he don eat dah ice-cream.”
I thought as much!
“But he did eat dah cream!”
“What cream?”
“Dah cream dat woz on dah ice-cream!”
“Cream on ice-cream!” talk about overkill.
“Yeah an it was real cold, but he ate it anyways……he din scream at all neither but he did his shivery thing………he wuz real brave mom.”
I smile as I think. Is cream really a food or merely a condiment? Does anyone eat a whole bowl of cream? Can you count cream or would that be like counting mustard as a food?
I look at my boys. The retrieval of the words has the effect of making him relive the experience. I watch as the little one judders involuntarily at the memory and the big one puts a steadying arm around his bony little shoulders.
Bravery awards all round [and rats to the theory of mind.]
Stumble it!
April 17th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
like whipped cream? I’d eat a bowl of that….used to as a kid too.
April 18th, 2008 at 4:35 am
Yeah…I’m with graceunderautism…love whipped cream!
The image of your two boys together, the one encouraging and gently protecting/reassuring the other…that’s a memory worth framing.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:13 am
Cream is totally a food, not a condiment at all.
Well done to him!
April 18th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Mustard is a food… totally different taste.
“Bravery awards all round [and rats to the theory of mind.]” Definately.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Yes, was it whipped cream or maybe some kind of icing? Either way enough of it could put some meat on those bony shoulders
I love that they have one another to help report on the day.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:57 am
What is up with Americans and their “cream” yuck whipped cream on ice cream!?!??!?!!??!?! ew
hehe too cool that they relayed the brave story!
April 18th, 2008 at 8:19 am
I love the pride. One proud of his eating and the other proud of his brother. So nice. Whipped Cream is definately a food! This one brought tears to the corners of my eyes. Such fabulous boys.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
They’re such great little guys–so glad that they have each other and that THEY HAVE YOU.
April 18th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Whipped cream counts. Andy does not eat ice cream (too cold) but he will eat whipped cream. When we go out to lunch, we order him a bowl of whipped cream for dessert (which they usually give us for free, very kindly). It washes down the bacon.
April 18th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Sounds like he is making some progress!
April 19th, 2008 at 7:16 am
ah, bless their little hearts for getting through the ice cream and the way the one steadied the other and praised him. tis lovely when brothers dwell in peace.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Sure bowls of cream and mustard, relish, ketchup, _sauce_ in all of its variety count as new foods—-new tastes—-and highly useful for putting atop other foods that one wishes to wheedle a child to eat.
Maddy, ’tis you dun good. Bin dun, even.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Brought tears to my eyes as well. How brave of him, I won’t even touch whipped cream…ew! They are so lucky to have one another, the understanding and empathy involved in one explaining another’s story is so sweet. And I agree that the whole ‘healthy food at school policy’ is a battle we’re unlikely to win (my son admitted to having ‘Pop-Tart’ as snack at school yesterday, ugh! Thank you for sharing such a great story!!