I was recently on an elevator with Cool Baby, going up to a higher floor at the indoor play place. The doors opened and a few feet away, staring up at me, was a baby girl less than a year old. She was tiny, but walking pretty well for her age. Her lips were smacking away as I looked to see what she was holding.
As I identified the object–hard-boiled egg bigger than her fist–I remembered the strict “no food” policy at the play place. One of the reasons for the food ban was to protect children who may be allergic to certain foods. Another thing I noticed as we entered the room was that pieces of the egg yolk were falling out absolutely everywhere. After every bite, loads of crumbs fell on the floor, then she stomped on them by accident, and wandered to the next clean spot. And this girl was covering some ground. Literally.
I looked around for a responsible parent. I saw a father in the corner with a 2-foot-wide cooler filled with ice and snacks in plastic bags. Wow. I have to say, I really admired the planning and frugality involved in packing that thing with the day’s food.
Thirty minutes later I revisited the scene. It was amazing to see how much damage egg yolk crumbs could do after being trampled into carpet. The Egg Family was nowhere to be found and hopefully Mother Egg never found out what happened in her absence. (Okay, I know, not all dads would let this happen. But you know a lot would!)
Has anything ever gone wrong while the dad in your family was on baby-duty?
What kind of crazy snack is a hard boiled egg at a place like that? I can understand sneaking some goldfish…
In our house, I tend to be the one that allows the giant messes. I chalk them up to “creativity.”
Photobaby took a header off the couch a couple weeks ago – while under Mark’s care. However, he felt terrible and for the record, it’s just a matter of luck that it happened to him and not me. That girl is a little climbing monkey!