pop pop pop

This past week, Thomas has become totally fascinated with my gum. Like, completely fascinated. I popped a few quick bubbles on Monday and he immediately stopped dead in his tracks and asked, demanded to know, "What's that?" The accusatory words rushed out of his little mouth as if pushed by some magical force. I told him it was my gum. Seeing as I chew gum all the time, I thought this was a bit of an overreaction. He wanted to see it, I obliged, and then he kind of eyed me suspiciously, like, "I don't know what you're up to with this gum business, but I'm on to you." He kept looking at me. I smiled and chewed more quietly, and eventually he went back about the toys. After that, every time I'd pop a bubble even a tiny bubble, he would stop and give me the look, though he never asked about it again. I probably popped a few extra bubbles for my own amusement. Ahem.

Fast forward to Wednesday. Mommy's home and gives him a few fruit snacks for a snack, since he hadn't eaten since lunch. He ate them quickly and begged for more. These are the same fruit snacks, mind you, that he absolutely refused to even consider when I mentioned them as a choice earlier in the afternoon. Since I was not going for the giant-bucket-of-candy snack that he suggested, he had no interest in anything I had to offer. I know, I know, I'm so damn mean, making him starve like that. Even though I offered up everything in the entire house, I denied him the candy, and thus, am evil. Bad nanny.

So Mommy and I are talking about Halloween when Thomas wanders over to us, opens his mouth as wide as he can, and proclaims, "See! I got gum! I GOT GUM!" He was so darn proud that he got us to give him gum. Sooo proud.

I've been waiting ALL week for him to ask for gum. I knew he couldn't have it, but I didn't know how to convince him of that without MAJOR dramatics. The fact that he now thinks that fruit snacks are gum? A better solution could not have been found in the teacher's edition of a 7th grade math book. Of course, when he finally catches on that his "gum" neither pops nor lasts beyond 10 seconds, we may have to come up with a new strategy.