Bubble Gum

Alas- I have a toddler tale for you on this lovely Friday afternoon.
First, a bit of background. Aunt Kimmie gave Ava her first stick of sugarless bubble gum at The Burrows Reunion in June. Since then, I've purchased a few packs of gum with Ava in mind...usually strawberry-banana or some other fruity variety. What can I say...she loves it, it's sugarless, she only gets 1/2 a piece, she spits it out, what's the harm?

Well, today in the check-out line I told Ava we could buy a pack. She was all excited and smelled no less than 5 packs before she made her final selection. She waited patiently till we got into the car so she could have her gum. Ava loves to rip the pieces in half herself, so I obliged and she was chewing away...happy as could be.

Well, when we got home I got busy doing what I do and Ava got busy too. She was strolling her dollies around in their baby stroller, purse in hand, chatting, chewing, playing and entertaining herself. I could hear the stroller rolling across the hard floors and I could tell that she was visiting "the store" and "going shopping" and all sorts of fun stuff.

The next thing I knew I walked into the living room and I saw the pack of gum on the sofa. The same pack of 15 pieces that I just bought. The same pack that was tucked away safely in my purse. Well, there is was, open on the sofa...ONE STICK LEFT INSIDE! She just looked at me, chomping away. I held out my hand under her chin and she spit out her gum. She knew something was coming but she wasn't sure what.

We had a long talk about gum and mommy's purse and about being sneaky, etc. Over the next few minutes I discovered approximately 26 little balls of silver foil in her purse and an equal amount of chewed up gum balls in the bathroom trash can. She had torn each piece in half, chewed it for a few minutes, spit it out, then went for another. NICE! I guess I should be happy she didn't swallow it all!!

Of course I wasn't happy about this little discovery but I also couldn't help but find it slightly amusing. I told her that I was going to call Daddy. I did call him and all I could get out of him was, "She's her mother's daughter". ha ha. When I got back in the room Ava wanted to know what Daddy said. I told her no more gum for awhile and that she is not to go into mommy's purse.

She just looked at me and said. "Yeah, you better put it where I can't reach it. Maybe you should put it up with my paints." WHAT??!!??
You gotta love it, a girl who knows her own weaknesses!!
These kids, I tell ya!