So speaking of laughing a bit, I want to save forever a classic "kids do the darndest things/Mt. Dew" moment before I forget it. This is an awesome story. I can't wait to tell it!
OK--so Erika and I were invited to a "customer appreciation day" by her cousin Jimmy who owns an automotive shop in Council Bluffs. The Council is on the other side of the river from ho-hum-o-ha (Omaha for my slow friends) so it was quite the trek for us to get there. Nothing like a L.A. trek, but a good 25 minutes which is a big deal for this town. I digress.
So we get to the party and Erika's aunt and her kids, etc. are all there. As always, there is plenty of good eats available and we are all seated at a picnic table next to a garage where the food is being served. Shortly after we all finish eating, a little girl - who had been playing with Emelia and is the daughter of a family acquaintance - grabs a 32-oz. bottle of Mt. Dew that someone had brought with them to the party. No one noticed her grab the bottle and walk away, but as she twisted off the cap someone spotted her and said "no, no, no!" in that "cutesy" voice that we use with toddlers.
The mom, upon seeing her youngster with the Mt. Dew bottle, scolded her to put it down, said "no!" and began walking towards her. What happened next shall forever be known as "awesomeness." For literally two seconds that felt like 20, I watched this girl and could see the wheels in her head turning. Realizing that her mom was coming her way and time was short, she proceeded to finish twisting off the cap and - LITERALLY - wrapped her lips around the bottle and turned it upside-down, cocking her head back to swallow as much of the delicious caffeinated nector as possible before mom got there to cut her off. I swear to the good Lord I have NEVER seen a kid so young down Mt. Dew like that. It was totally stinkin' awesome!
As a human being, your natural instinct in that moment is to fall to the ground laughing and wet your pants. It was so, so funny. As a parent, though, I forced myself to look away and pushed the laugh back down into my gut until it hurt. Obviously you don't want a defiant kid to think that her defiance is funny, lest it encourage future defiance. Still, though, I had to admit it was funny. Those agonizing seconds as the child processed the situation and calculated her next move and then quickly and innocently disobeyed and guzzled that Mt. Dew as fast as she could. It was classic! Good times.
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