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I was very firm with my family about the no chocolate before age two thing. They complained about it, “apologizing” to TJ when they weren’t allowed to give him candy. “Sorry, but your mean mommy says no.” As I’d feared, his second birthday turned into a giant chocolate free-for-all.
TJ gets offered a cookie at practically every meal he has with his grandparents. This is more of a big deal for us than it would be for others, because my mother-in-law watches him three days a week, and the rest of the week, we’re generally out to lunch with one or more grandparents each day. I’ve talked to them about the fact that he now expects a treat after every meal, but it hasn’t really changed.
Thankfully, he does still eat about as well as he used to, which is to say, he’ll eat good meals about every other day.
But he now knows how to say M&M – a type of candy you can’t spell out like you can with k-i-t-k-a-t-s. He asks for cake when he mishears me say “Okay.” He gets giddy when he says chocolate. And now he even likes candy corn, and he smiles whenever the “I don’t like candy corn” song comes on Noggin.
Halloween was yesterday, and we hadn’t forseen the dangers of trick or treating. Thankfully, we only trick or treated at three houses: my mom’s, Tom’s mom’s, and my grandma’s. But every time he was given candy, he wanted to eat it. Now. Never mind the fact that every kind of candy was messy and sticky, and he was wearing his pirate costume that I made with my own hands. He had a few mini tantrums when he was told no, and of course I was branded as the mean mommy.
Grandma Kitty (Tom’s mom) would give him one M&M at a time, if he said “Trick or treat” first. Great-Grandma got out the chocolate cookies with orange frosting and sprinkles. Once he saw them, it was over, so I only let him eat the cookie if he sat on my lap and tucked a paper towel in his collar to protect his costume. Grandma Debbie (my mom) was our last stop, so he was allowed to eat some more candy, including a sticky lollipop, because everyone had finally seen his costume.
Silly me, I forgot to remove the candy bowl we used for our trick-or-treaters last night from the living room. TJ got up this morning and asked for “Some?” I think he thinks that “some” is the word for candy, since he’s often told, “You can have some later.”
Despite my efforts to the contrary, I have a little candy fiend on my hands now. It’ll be easier to get back under control once the Halloween candy stashes disappear from all of the grandmas’ houses.
The one good thing that’s come of this was that we discovered we can get him to eat dinner more often by adding M&Ms to his pancakes and things.
That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.
