A COUPLE OF TOOTSIE ROLL POPS

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We don’t often have candy in the house… except for Hot Tamales which I started buying when I was pregnant with Lulu. A part of me thinks they’re disgusting, and the other part of me can’t stop eating them. Have you ever tried pouring a box of them into a bowl of buttered popcorn? You should.

Anyway, after Halloween I got rid of most of G’s candy. She brought in quite a bit of it. A cute Pirate Kitty Cat will do that. In fact, she figured out just how to approach the candy holders, “If I meow at them they give me another piece!!!” After she went to bed on Halloween night we put away most of her candy and left her a few goodies in her bag. She was so excited about the candy, she didn’t notice that 90% of her stash was missing when she got up the next day.

I think the first words out of her mouth on November 1st were, “I know! I can have candy for brekstist! THIS is a great idea!” I made her wait to pick a candy to eat until after her afternoon nap. When the time came to pick she chose a Tootsie Roll Pop. I think it was the first, maybe second, sucker she’s ever had. She kept referring to it as a “lollipop guild” in reference to the munchkin trio from The Wizard of Oz. She also picked one out for me. Lulu was sleeping so G and I just sat at the table and ate our Tootsie Pops together, swapping flavors every couple minutes. She’d offer up her raspberry in exchange for my chocolate flavored one.

I kept thinking about those “how many licks…” commercials and I was grateful that Gigi didn’t think to crunch through the hard candy to get to the Tootsie Roll because, all told, we spent about half an hour just sitting together with our lollipops. I enjoyed spending time with her huddled at the table, talking about all manner of silly things and listening to her sing, “lollipop guild, lollipop guild!” over and over, admiring the way her bed-head braids stuck out at funny angles.

I never thought I’d be grateful to candy, because frankly it can be a parenting pain in the ass, but I am so grateful to have shared that half hour with my girl over a couple of Tootsie Roll Pops.