sweet tooth babies

I'm a little ashamed to admit that I have a serious sweet tooth problem. Hubband, not so much. He's rather have popcorn that pretty much any other treat I could tempt with him. I knew Butterfly inherited my sweet tooth but I hoped Ladybug was more like her daddy. She often picked fruit for a snack or prefers crackers to chips. But since Easter, it's fair to say that the sweet tooth runs rampant.

The girls ended up with quite the haul of Easter candy. The day after Easter, I dumped it all into one large mixing bowl (and it barely fit) and since then, we have been snacking on it. It's generally the first request in the morning and then frequently throughout the day, their hopeful faces and sweet voices asking "Candy? Candy pease?" I put them off until after meals or naptime but its been a fun treat and tasty snack so why not? I get the bowl off the counter and hold it where they can see. Tiny hands paw through the brightly colored wrappers as the girls hem and haw and deliberate. Lately I have to begin a countdown and then slowly start pulling the bowl away to speed up their decision making. Butterfly's favorites is usually the tootsie rolls, Ladybug usually picks a foil wrapped chocolate egg. Once the candy has been devoured, they chirp "tank you!" and run off, back to their dollies, games and other mess making mischief.

oh by the way, remember the famous m&m slogan? "melts in your mouth, not in your hand". not true. at least not for Ladybug and a handful of mini m&ms. Withing minutes, the color from the candy shells transfers from the candy to her hand, staining it in muted patches of color. And while a baby wipe cannot remove the stain, it transfers easily to white door frames and my white bedspread. she thinks her hands are hilarious when colored this way and hides them in her pockets if I try to wash them. of course, she shoves her hands so far into her pockets that it begins to push her pants down, hindering her ability to run away from me. I catch her, tickle her (to get her hands out of her pockets) and win the hand washing battle after all.