outsourcing

The other night as we were finishing up our dinner, Ada indicated that she wanted one of her treats from her Trick-or-Treating escapades. However, she was only half way through her dinner and we have rules in our house that she has to finish the majority of her meal before she gets a treat. She was a little persistent in her request for her treat so we explained to her exactly how much more of her dinner she needed to eat. She seemed to understand. She looked at her food, looked back at me, picked up her food, looked at it again like she was actually thinking of eating it... and then she handed it to me. I admit I was a little shocked, Ada is usually pretty cooperative. I must have paused a little bit longer than she expected, I obviously needed some encouragement, so she waved her hand at me, gave me an exasperated look, and said "EAT".

She obviously understood the concept - the food must be eaten before she gets treats. We apparently just need to clarify that she isn't allowed to outsource the eating.