Before I had Barak, I didn't really understand about Cookie Monster. I thought, fine, cute furry blue monster who eats cookies. It never occurred to me that it was any reference to the total transformation of ordinarily reasonably well-behaved small children that occurs when they are exposed to the pernicious influence of cookies.
Barak has known about cookies for a while now, maybe since the summer. He doesn't get them often. He gets them on Shabbos at kiddush, when we go to shul, and that's it unless I bake them--which I don't do without a reason, such as guests, a shiva call, or, um, being pregnant and really wanting cookies. It's not easy to make cookies with Barak around, because as long as there are cookies in sight, he will want them, regardless of how many he's already had. The last time I baked cookies he had three, which is a lot when you consider his size--450 calories worth of cookies for a 27-pound child? And he was still screaming hysterically for more. When I make cookies they are as healthful as genuine cookies can be, but they are still cookies--the ingredients may be organic, the flour may be whole-wheat, and there may not be a trans-fatty acid in sight, but the sugar is sugar and the chocolate is chocolate. I don't want him eating them regularly, so I don't make them much (at least not when he's looking). But there is no question that Barak knows all about cookies.
With, it appears, certain limitations. A couple weeks ago, while we were at Target, I bought a bag of Milanos. This is unusual enough that MHH commented on it--ice cream we buy, cookies we don't. I haven't been eating many of them, and the bag is still sitting in the cupboard. Barak has seen the bag dozens of times, without a squeak of interest. Because, so far as he knows, cookies come in two ways: on a plate at kiddush and out of Imma's oven. He has no idea that cookies come in bags.
Well, I suppose that's something.
2 comments:
Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot. No, I don't know, although I have my suspicions. But I don't do the blue for boys, pink for girls thing anyway. Barak wears a lot of bright green and purple, mainly because that's what I like. And orange.
I think Deborah's right: if you had bagged cookies w/ pictures that looked more like what he's used to seeing come out of Imma's oven, I bet he'd figure it out.
So remember to never, EVER, eat one in front of him, or -- heaven forbid -- give him one to try.
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