Oh the hypocrisy

I can eat half a pan of rice crispy treats, a whole pan of brownies (not the family size box), or 3 root beer floats in one day. No problem. Perhaps that makes me a pig. Whatever. However, I tell Adelle she can only have one of these treats in a single day because I'm trying to be a responsible parent. When I was pregnant I would tell Adelle that the first ice cream bar was for me and the second one was for Ivan. She was very accepting of this explanation. If I ate a third one I had to hide in the closet. Sometimes she finds out though: "Momma, your mouth smells like chocolate. Can I have some too?"

If I didn't hide my consumption of sweets from her she would surely keep track and point out how many I ate (and I prefer to stay in denial of the exact number). She would of course argue that she should get to eat more than one treat as well. You see, she's a very rule conscious child. For example, when I was pregnant with Ivan I made the mistake of telling her that coffee was bad for the baby, which was fine for the first 3 months. But then I started missing it and started drinking decaf, and then half-caff. Adelle would routinely point out that it was bad for Baby Ivan. Then I had to explain to a 4-year-old what decaf coffee is. I'm pretty sure she wasn't interested.

Now I know who must have coined the phrase "do as I say, not as I do." It was a parent of a rule conscious 4-year-old.