shut up, i'm eating

it is not often in life when there is a food item that i will ask one of my friends to make. cookie & pops' (as ella calls them) strawberry pie is the exception. a couple of weeks ago i asked cookie & pops for a pie for my birthday sweet.

after a particularly long day with ella, i was really looking forward to dinner at my new favorite tex-mex place, (tribeca). unfortunately, they are not open on mondays. go figure. so i chose somewhere else. ella was difficult when we picked her up at chris' parents. go figure. we stop to get a gallon of milk for breakfast in the morning. chris chooses the short line. the person in front had check issues. go figure. (get a debit card woman!) just like any normal monday, but birthdays should be easier and more fun.

when my phone rang and it was cookie, the pie did not cross my mind. i thought that she was trying to reach chris. (chris is leaving thursday before the butt-crack of dawn for mission trip to russia. cookie & pops' daughter is one of the students going.) it is not unheard of for people to dial the wrong number (only our last digit is different) when trying to reach chris. last minute questions for trips are normal. i expect them.

but the call was for me. cookie was trying to find me to tell me she had a goodie for me. a huge smile smeared across my face. we went by their house and picked up my pie. it was gorgeous. yummy strawberries in a luscious red glaze with a golden crust sticking up around the sides. my mouth is still watering. i could not begin to thank her. honestly, i don't think blogging does the thanks justice, but alas, i try.

{when getting out of the car at home with the pie, i thought what if i drop it? i determined that this pie was so good, i would just bring a fork and the cool whip outside and eat it off the ground. (sad, but true). thankfully the pie made it to the kitchen safely.}

i was nice enough to share a strawberry with ella before her shower. she loved it a asked for more. we will enjoy it tomorrow when it is cool, i tell her, fully intending on waiting. that pie with the bright red berries in the handmade crust called my name from inside the fridge. i had to have a piece. stuffed from dinner or not, it is my birthday, and i am going to eat this pie. (maybe not the whole thing...)

i cut a small sliver, put it in a bowl, topped it with the cool whip, and sat down for the best darn strawberry pie around. the berries were perfectly ripe. with just the slightest crunch, the juice of the berries filled my mouth. the soft smooth glaze added the perfect amount of sweetness to the tart berries. then, after i had savored the flavor of the filling, i moved to the crust. (the crust of any pastry has always been my favorite part). i scooped up a generous amount of cool whip and laid the crust in my mouth. it was as perfect as a crust could be. buttery, flaky, crisp, with just the right amount of sugar. if i thought it would not make me burst, i would go back for more.

the ultimate complement i have ever received when feeding someone is "shut up, i'm eating." so to cookie - shut up, i'm eating and thanks for the outstanding birthday treat.

bribery doesn't work

We have mastered the potty. Our next challenge with Ella is thumb sucking. She never liked pacifiers. The benefits of a thumb sucker are great; no getting up in the middle of the night to find a paci caught in the bedding, no losing the paci while out, no other children using her paci, or her trying to use others paci’s.

Unfortunately, the one big draw back to thumb sucking is what makes pacis so great. I cannot cut off her thumb and tell it is broken, I cannot throw it away, the paci fairy cannot come and exchange it for a special present. So the bribery begins.

Saturday night before bed I told Ella that when she stopped sucking her thumb she could pick anything she wanted (mom and dad approved) and we would get it for her. She has been on a trampoline before and loved it. I thought that might be a good bribe. We had her going for a couple of minutes. She responded to the words “big special treat” with wide eyes and a big smile. Then I repeated that she could have her big special treat when she stopped sucking her thumb. Her reply was:

“I don’t want a big special treat, I want to still suck my thumb.”

For those of you that know Callie, this reminded me of her “they’re not my friends anymore” when her daddy told her all of her friends had stopped using a paci and were wearing big girl panties.

It sucks being out-smarted by a nearly 3-year-old.