I Guess I Thought It Was Self-Explanatory

I gave Drew and Owen their first ice cream cones today. It wasn't their first ice cream, or their first cones; just the first time eating the ice cream in the cone. Owen picked his right up and ate and loved it. He decided to sit down and eat it, so he plopped down on the kitchen floor, which I thought was a good idea.

Drew didn't do as well with his at first: he took a lick, and decided it was too cold. He looked at me like, Why would you do that to me? And he ran away crying. But then, the sweetness reached his tongue, and he came back asking for "Mum" (that's how he says "more"). So I gave the cone back to him, and he took another lick. I guess he didn't find that an efficient way to get the maximum amount of ice cream, so he tried tipping it upside-down and eating the cone end first. I suppose I really should have done a better job of showing him how one goes about eating ice cream in a cone. Once he got it down (as "down" as a 1 year-old can "get it"), he wandered around smearing ice cream all over his face and somehow his belly. Next, he decided we should say a blessing on our "food," so he folded his arms, thus getting ice cream on his back. The kid's talented; what can I say?

I tried to convince Drew to sit down by Owen, so we could keep the mess somewhat contained, but he would have none of it. Then Owen figured wandering around with ice cream looked like more fun, so he stood up, too. His process of standing up involves putting both hands on the ground and pushing himself up. One of those hands was holding an ice cream cone which went squish, squash onto the floor. Owen didn't even care. He commenced eating as soon as he got his balance. I almost felt like I shouldn't let him eat it; the floor wasn't incredibly clean, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with a tantrum, so I justified it: It will just strengthen his immune system. The actual mess on the floor didn't bother me; our dog will clean messes up as long as they don't involve fruits or vegetables. He's so picky. Most dogs just snarf up any kind of people food when they get the chance. Vito actually sniffs something first to see if it's worth the trouble.

Over all, the boys were pretty pleased with their treats. So much so, that they didn't even fuss or squirm when I wiped off the stuff that didn't get into their mouths (which was probably close to half...).