Addiction

I have an addiction problem on my hands. . .it's not actually mine, though. It is my four-year-old's addiction. To DIET COKE. It was a gradual thing that crept up on us, unsuspecting parents that we are. It started at age three, I believe, when she asked for a drink of daddy's coke. We thought we were so smart and she would simply taste it, hate it, and never ask again. We believed this with good reason--her sister had done the same thing at her age and that was that.

But why we thought Sig would follow in her sister's footsteps in this regard when she never does a thing like her sister I will never know. So when she asked for more coke we would sometimes say no and sometimes give her a sip and sometimes pour just the tiniest bit in a cup of her own.

Then one day I found a sippy cup of suspicious brown liquid. . .who would give a three year old a sippy of coke?! Not this parent. A pattern began to form over the next year. Sig would drink bigger sips of our drinks, and ask if we were going to the gas station for coke. Then when we wanted our coke back we would have to pry the cup from her white knuckled little hands. Cokes left alone while half full turned up suspiciously empty.

After a year it was becoming apparent that she was not going to outgrow her fascination with coke. As a coke/mtn. dew addict I was beginning to see the signs.

I would say to her (And her father) Coke is not good for your growing little body. But then she would give me this face:

One of us would give in and give her just a scosch. Until someone gave her more. And suddenly her happy meal drink was coke and she would not go to sleep at night and she was inexplicably grumpy in the morning. And she developed an aversion to going to her primary class on Sunday until one of her brilliant parents got the bright idea to bribe her with a trip to the gas station for coke--if she would just go to her primary class and STAY there! It worked. And when she had been thoroughly caffeinated she gave us one of these:

There was no denying we had a problem. A. BIG. P.R.O.B.L.E.M. I tried to cut the girl. . .cold turkey. But funny thing, she reminded me of someone. . .someone who had been caffeine deprived. . .someone glassy eyed and ill tempered and slightly deranged. . .OH--me--whenever I try to quit.

Then I left a glass of Mountain dew on the counter (My second addiction that I acquired while trying to kick the first one) Sig grabbed it and took a sip and smiled a smile of pure joy. Her frown turned upside down and she giggled uncontrollably.

"Is that good?" I asked her.

"It's mountain dew. It's always good." She grinned.

When had THAT happened?

I think I (well mostly the parent with the inability to say NO--not this parent, most of the time) have created a monster.

Now when I say no more coke she smiles and says, "Can I have some of your Mtn. Dew?" And when she smiles so sweetly--sometimes I give in. Because who can resist this:

Just a little can't hurt. . .Right?! Go on, give me the parent of the year award. What?! Like you haven't done something with your children you swore you'd never do? If you swear you haven't I won't believe you. But if you feel like telling me what you've done (And making me feel better) I am sure I wouldn't mind!