"I can't wait to be a grown-up"

You ever have those times when your kids are to smart for you? It happens quite frequently at our house.

I have recently cut WAY back on my carb consumption (since Aug) and cut out processed sugar completely (since a week ago), because I feel so much less like the walking dead when I do. I am also not the kind of woman to make 2 different meals, one for me and the other for my family to eat (I'm sorry but short order cook is not in my marriage contract). So, as a result I'm eating low carb and no sugar...thus so are my family. Now you have all the background info you need to understand the following hilarity.

2 nights ago I made broiled fish with a tomato caper sauce, fresh green beans, fresh pineapple and....mashed cauliflower. The cauliflower was made with a generous amount of cream cheese, salt and pepper, which I thought tasted delightful as a replacement for mashed potatoes. Now my family are fairly good eaters so none of this was out of the norm (per say) for them.

At the onset of dinner I told the kiddos, "If you eat everything on your plate, then you may have some pineapple." Yes, I bribe my children with fresh fruit, and it works...shut up. lol

As dinner progressed I noticed that I was the only one touching my cauliflower, including my husband. I mentioned this observation to him and his response was a very clear, non-verbal, sideways, snickering glance that said "I'm a carnivore, what did you expect?" To which I laughed and replied "I really do like you quite well, and would prefer you to still be around for the next 60 or so years, at the least, so excuse me for trying to take some care with our health, and set good examples for our children." To which he just nodded and smiled patronizingly at me, very lovingly of course.

Fast forward to Matt digging into the pineapple bowl, mound of mashed cauliflower unfinished on his plate. Here is the conversation that ensued.

Bre " Daddy, why do you get to eat pineapple when you didn't finish your supper?"

At this comment he began to squirm in his seat a bit and chuckle uncomfortably a bit as he glanced over at me. I said nothing, but folded my arms across my chest, tilted my head, raised my eyebrows, grinned a "you got caught" grin and waited for his response.

Matt laughing "Because I'm an adult."

Wes "So, grown ups don't have to obey the dinner rules."

Matt laughing some more (he laughs a lot when he's uncomfortable) "Exactly."

Bre sighing and dejected "I can't wait to be a grown up."

Their logic and reasoning skills frequently back us against the wall like this, and leave us stuttering and uncomfortably laughing as we try and think of an adequate, adult-like response to their intellectual queries. They can just be to darn smart for our own good. :-)

So, the kids did end up cleaning their plates and were rewarded with ample mounds of juicy pineapple which they of course ate with gusto, AND I ate Matt's mashed cauliflower with my supper this evening, and enjoyed every last bite of it. lol