Pug-like

Another child who has apparently learned much more from the PUG dog than I realized... (some of you may remember seeing this exact picture with Tigger's older brother).

Blackberry Pinwheels

While Nana and Baba were here, they discovered a lovely blackberry patch down by Regent's Canal (apparently, given the pickings they aren't the only ones who know of this 'secret' patch). They made several visits, and we enjoyed lots of yummy blackberries and some tasty dessert treats. Tadpole in particular enjoyed the blackberry pinwheels, as evidenced below.

All These Antics

It was the day before we left on holiday, and seeing as how Tadpole loves airplanes and how I love presenting him with intriguing, fun foods, I made him an exciting tuna sandwich in the shape of a jet, as well as two mini heart shaped clouds and thin slices of celery to form a contrail. Oh what fun lunch would be today!

And indeed he was thrilled. He marvelled at the airplane, talked about how we were embarking on a journey the following day, and grabbed his sandwich… which promptly broke up over his plate like Oceanic 811 over a mysterious island.

Nana and I thought this problem would be easily solved with a simple cutting of the slightly mangled plane into pieces, but this is where the problems began.

My orderly Tadpole, protective of his airplane and clearly in a temperamental twos moment, freaked out. Now what was I to do? I wanted a calm toddler with a belly full enough to get him through his afternoon nap, and I did NOT want to make another sandwich.

So of course I did what any mother of a toddler has learned to do – exuberantly turn a negative scenario into a positive one. And with the help of Nana, the recovery began.

“Tadpole!” I exclaimed with wide eyes, pulling from our recent experience a fond memory that I thought might just do the trick. “Remember how we watched videos on the computer of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner being made? Remember how they put together all the different parts of the jumbo jet? They put the body in the big room, attached the wings, and…” well, you get the idea. I recapped the impressionable video detail by detail, demonstrating the process on his very own plate. He was quiet, but just as I thought my strategy had been successful, he broke out into a fresh round of tears.

Ah. But lest I be deterred from my Get Food in Munchkin mission, I immediately formulated plan B in my mind and took action. “Tadpole!” I exclaimed with bright eyes, and picked up the yet untouched heart shaped cloud still floating in the sky of his messy plate. “Look at the pretty cloud! It’s in the shape of a HEART! Amazing!” On I went, as Tadpole curiously looked at the cloud. This time, a small success – he ate the cloud. Ah-ha! Piece by tiny piece, THIS was how victory would happen – one “cloud” at a time. He ate cloud number two.

So I reached for a broken piece of airplane, nearly convinced myself that it was simply a cloud, when the smart kiddo saw through my strategy and began screaming, forcing me to reach back into my bag of mommy tricks once again.

“Tadpole!” I exclaimed with amazed eyes. “LOOK! The tail of the airplane looks just like another miniature airplane!” His screaming paused as he eyed the broken airplane I held in front of him. Having seized his attention, I continued. “Wow! Look! It’s flying around!” I zoomed it past a confused Tigger and an amused Nana, starting to feel a bit ridiculous but in my stubborn pride not willing to give up until my child successfully ate this entire, broken tuna sandwich. This continued for approximately 43 seconds, but then I saw the flicker in his eyes that signalled another loud fit was 3.1 seconds away. I quickly, oh so quickly, changed gears.

“Tadpole!” I exclaimed with shocked eyes. “An angel! The tail of this airplane [and indeed it did, you sceptics] also looks like an angel! Remember the angel in your Bible story book?” I proceeded to recount what I could of the story, the angel “talking” when appropriate, and Tigger and Nana riveted.

To ward off another meltdown, and, admittedly, because I was rather on a roll, I decided to directly involve the now calm but still resistant Tadpole. Surely, he would enjoy eating some sandwich that was of a shape or figure he’d imagined up.

“Tadpole!” I asked. “What do YOU think it looks like?!”

Silence hung heavy for a brief moment while Nana, Tigger and I expectantly waited for his creative answer. Tadpole, looking steadily and dryly into my eyes, stated it rather simply: “Bread.”

Nana and I broke into tear-induced laughter, which ultimately caused my bright, see-through-the-ruse Tadpole to giggle and gobble up the remainder of the sandwich.

So did my “brilliant” antics work? Hard to say. But one thing is certain: there’s no fooling a toddler.