Thursday, October 03, 2002
Heather: I just saw Dale's blog from work and had to rise to our daughter's defense. While the dog's dishes have a mysterious pull for her, she has figured out that playing with their contents gets a loud and startling "NO!" and a quick ride elsewhere.
Tuesday night, however, she had an ethical dilemma. I saw and heard her giving her half-cry, where she's upset but not scared or in pain. It's the same thing she says/does when she sees us getting her a sippy of milk and we're not doing it quickly enough. This time, she was sitting on the floor near the dog's dishes, clenching and unclenching her little fists, looking at me and looking back at them. Whatever was the matter? I went over and looked.
Cheerios, the ambrosia of the gods, had been dumped into the dog's dish. Grandma had cleaned off Maddie's booster seat tray and emptied them there for the dog to finish off.
Whatever to do? Reach for the Cheerios, or not reach into the dog's bowl? Quite the quandary for one so young.
I solved the problem by getting the box of Cheerios, sitting there on the floor with her, and sharing some. She was cool with that and seemed to forget the three others, probably contaminated from the chicken fat I had put in there for the dog to finish. I was quite proud that she knew right from wrong, or at least remembered the unpleasant consequences of playing with dog food.
Tuesday night, however, she had an ethical dilemma. I saw and heard her giving her half-cry, where she's upset but not scared or in pain. It's the same thing she says/does when she sees us getting her a sippy of milk and we're not doing it quickly enough. This time, she was sitting on the floor near the dog's dishes, clenching and unclenching her little fists, looking at me and looking back at them. Whatever was the matter? I went over and looked.
Cheerios, the ambrosia of the gods, had been dumped into the dog's dish. Grandma had cleaned off Maddie's booster seat tray and emptied them there for the dog to finish off.
Whatever to do? Reach for the Cheerios, or not reach into the dog's bowl? Quite the quandary for one so young.
I solved the problem by getting the box of Cheerios, sitting there on the floor with her, and sharing some. She was cool with that and seemed to forget the three others, probably contaminated from the chicken fat I had put in there for the dog to finish. I was quite proud that she knew right from wrong, or at least remembered the unpleasant consequences of playing with dog food.
