The Letter or the Spirit of the Law

I've been held fast in the grip of my enemy Morning Sickness for the past two weeks. Yesterday and today were much better, but before that, I was basically reduced to a lump on the sofa, watching the world swirl around me. David did most of the cooking for me. He's been wonderful!

He's been gone this week painting a house and so dinner tonight fell to me. Thankfully, I was feeling somewhat up to the challenge. Not wanting to heat me or the kitchen up any more than necessary, I resorted to carrot spears dipped in homemade salad dressing. I figure that if I'm going to look for something to simply fill our stomachs, at least this was healthy. I always feel guilty when I don't serve a complete meal. I sit at the table and think We don't have a green vegetable. That means the kids aren't getting enough, um, whatever it is that's supposed to make green vegetables magic. I'm such a horrible mom!

So I just rationalize tonight by saying that we were making up for a lack of beta carotene. Yeah, that's it, beta carotene!

Wishing to dirty as few dishes as possible, I set out a paper plate with carrot spears and a bowl of dressing in the middle of the table. The rule in our house, as I'm sure it is in yours is: (unless you're the type to throw all germ caution to the wind and live a commune-like existence--in which case, more power to you)

No Double Dipping!

Perry has pretty much got this skill mastered. But Daisy, who really just asks for carrots so she can get dressing, is still somewhat lacking it. For the first part of dinner I watched her closely and patiently (see patiently, aren't you proud of me!) corrected her. After a while I figured she had it figured out so I turned my attention toward Calvin who was shoving leftover spaghetti noodles into his mouth like there was no tomorrow. I looked back over at the plate of carrots and noticed that one of them had a little spot of dressing on the end. No big deal, some must have dripped on it from...somewhere. I looked back over at Calvin for a second, then back at the plate of carrots. This time there were three carrots upon it with dressing only on their very tips. I sat silently and observed. Daisy picked up a carrot from the plate, dipped it into the dressing, sucked all the dressing from it (except what was on the very end), placed it back on the plate, then proceeded to do it again with another carrot.

But hey, at least she wasn't double dipping.