Innocence

One thing I love about being a parent is catching the occasional glimpse of how I used to see the world. If I wanted something, it just appeared- I didn't have to plan for it, pay for it, keep the receipt in case I needed to return it, I just got it. It was sort of like magic (or as if everything I saw was mine- I just had to ask nicely for it), if I wanted a teddy bear all I had to do was pick it up and cutely carry it around the store and it would come home with me. Granted this didn't happen all of the time because I had learned about boundaries and needs vs. wants, but on occasion this was the case. If I wanted an apple, or an orange, one was provided no questions asked. I did not worry about the transfers of pieces of paper, or the "value" attributed to an item. The world was much simpler in those days.
So one day at the grocery store after I had taken my sweet time to choose a lemon, I noticed how quiet my daughter was in the stroller. Yes, the kind of quiet that makes a parent instantly suspicious. I peeked over the shade of her stroller and there she was, happily holding a very large Fuji apple which had suffered several bruises and now four or five tiny bites. Where did she get that?! I was alarmed, I hadn't seen anyone give her an apple (eeaaat it!! eeeaat it!) and my husband was on the other side of the store looking for something else. I could only surmise that she had plucked the nearest apple out of the display since it was just barely within stroller reach. Then I chortled to myself. She wanted an apple, so she helped herself. Plain and simple. I was a bit dismayed that she had gotten to it before I could wash away all traces of Mystery Hand and polishing wax, but alas, I had been absorbed in choosing the right lemon...
Now that she was in possession of the apple, she proceeded to bite off a piece, suck on it for a while, then loudly spew it out. Most of it ended up on the floor, some of it in crevices of the stroller, a few pieces in her clothing and the rest went to the parental garbage disposal (we don't have a dog anymore so I get the glorious leftovers). It is now common practice to hide the coveted fruit when we are grocery shopping so as to avoid the apple tantrum.

Happy shopping,

~Momrit