Ol’ Roy.

When I was a small child, I was extremely picky when it came to food choices.  I had a few typical kid staples like mac n’ cheese, fruit roll ups, mashed potatoes and some odd ball stuff like Vienna Sausage with spinach.  Yes, I really did eat that.  And enjoyed it. 

After moving back home to the dirty dirty south, my palette matured quite a bit.  I started adding different dishes to the equation – a little bit of jambalaya here, some gumbo there, crawfish pie and blackened catfish.  A dash of Tony Chacheres for flavor.  Laissez le bon temps roulet.   If you’re not drooling right now, there’s seriously something wrong with you.

I digress.

What’s unfortunate is that I can’t cook worth a crap, so my nightly dinners usually consist of Ritz Crackers and cheese cubes.  The meals listed above are for special occasions – like when I’m at the house of someone who can actually cook.  My meals are much more, shall we say, humble.

Last night, for example, I made a simple turkey sandwich for dinner.  After gorging the entire weekend, I figured I needed to cleanse myself of all of that Cajun food.  Halfway through my meal, Anna walks up to my plate and makes a very special deposit.  It was round and brown and much like the dog food we feed Cosmo.  I can appreciate wanting to try new things, but dog food isn’t on my list. 

A few minutes later, she returns with more deposits.  This time, an entire handful.  She throws them on my plate and claps.  My child has found Cosmo’s dog food bucket and has taken it upon herself to share the tiny morsels with her family.  What’s incredible about this whole story is that she doesn’t even want to try them herself – she’s all about giving, that one. 

This charitable act went on for a good 10 minutes.  That is, until my entire plate was covered in dog food.  Even Cosmo would’ve shunned that enormous buffet of food.  Why did I let her do it, you may ask?  Well, for one, it was cute.  I mean, how can I deny my child of that sort of fun and excitement?  Also, any parents out there know that when your child is entertaining him/herself, you don’t mess up that stream of consciousness.  Plus, the constant walking back and forth from the food pantry to my plate was not only building up leg muscles but also wearing her crazy little butt out.  More sleep for mommy and daddy = good life!

So, the moral of today’s story is to always look at your plate if your child is around.  And be open to trying new foods.  But not dog food.  Unless you’re into that sort of thing.