And I Don't Even Like Taffy

When you have 5 kids it takes some creativity to find ways to get one on one time. Fortunately most of them are small enough to think that a trip to the grocery store is still fun. After some consultation, it was determined that the middle child was due for the salsa run.

At the store we found our jar of spicy goodness and proceeded to the checkout. I thought it might add to the fun to get the kids a treat for after dinner. I looked at the apples which cost approximately 70 cents a piece and weighed them against the foot long Laffy-Taffy that was 4/$1.00. I did what any responsible parent would do - yep, taffy all around.

On the way home we decided it would add to the fun if we didn't tell the other kids about the taffy until after dinner. I don't know if you've ever seen a five year old with a secret to tell, but if not, borrow someones child and check it out. I promise it will be worth the effort.

We got home and it took all of about 48 seconds before she announced,"I know a surprise!" I'm not sure which was more interesting; the five year old torn between the urge to keep the secret and the moral dilemma of not telling a lie, or the seven year old pumping her little sister for information. I think the sergeants at Gitmo would have been proud.

After dinner we distributed the now well known 'surprise' desert. I was sitting on the porch with the baby in my lap while the other three girls would come to have their wrapper pulled down to reveal more taffy. It was at this point that the foot long didn't seem like such a good deal anymore. While balancing the six month old on my lap I continued to pull on sticky plastic so they could get their sugar fix.

That's when it happened. Megan, the five year old, comes before me and she is chewing on the plastic wrapper (at least I think it's some kind of plastic - I'm probably better off not knowing). She hands me her gnarled mess without a word. So if you can imagine the state of taffy that has been chewed inside a plastic wrapper, all covered in a delicate layer of saliva, you know what now rested in my hand. Megan peered at me intently as I struggled with the wet plastic, which I am now thinking of putting around our house, that and a sprinkler and no one is ever breaking in!

As I freed the last of her sugary treat, she looks at me as only Megan can and remarks, "You're an expert at everything."


Well worth the 25 cents.