Some of you may remember my post last December (as in 2009) in which I shared one of Scott’s moments of sheer brilliance at the dinner table. 

Well, I feel the need to tell you that 13 months later and my kids are STILL eating their vegetables to spite their Daddy.  I am sure this says something of their character… for which we must spend some time rectifying, but meanwhile my mean spirited little children are eagerly gobbling up their vegetables. 

I had no idea it would last this long.  I thought for sure after a few weeks it would get old.    My son quickly caught on to the game, even quietly telling Daddy one day he knows it’s just a game he plays to get them to eat their vegetables… and still he’ll play along.  (much like Santa Claus)

The game is def best suited to my competitive second born.  I have seen her literally gagging as she tries to down her vegetables just so she can show daddy “ha, ha I cleaned my plate… your not going to eat my ears!”

There are some vegetables they prefer to others and I am not saying every day they eat their veggies without complaint.  But, over all this little game has been a huge hit at the circus.  My 3 year old will request veggies at lunch so we can e-mail Daddy and let him know we ruined our ears and when I made pizza last time, my 4 year old came in and asked “What vegetable we were having to go with it?”  

Sometimes it gets a bit old having the kids interrupting dinner multiple times to show Daddy their veggies in their mouths  and sometimes Daddy will forget and say, “Good job!” when they show him their cleaned plate… and the kids will laugh and say, “Dad, remember, your supposed to say bad job b/c you don’t want us to ruin our ears!”

  Just last night at dinner our friend said, “How long do you think this is going to last?”  I have no idea… but I do know that it worked… my 6 yr old now genuinely likes broccoli and they are all much more willing to try out new vegetables. 

I remember very little from my college biology class.  The one thing that sticks in my brain is the genetics unit.  I can remember sitting there running through the calculations and thinking, “If Scott and I were to get married we’d have blue eyed kids.”   The hopeless romantic, head over heels in love teen that I was, I enjoyed the game of “wonder if.”  The other thing from the genetics unit that sticks out is that the ability to touch your tongue to your nose is genetically dictated. 

Sorry bio professor, that’s all I remember from the entire semester.

But it brought great amusement to our post dinner conversation tonight.

I asked my kids if they could stick their tongue out and touch their nose.

My daughter’s response?

Hmmm…not exactly what I meant, but definitely what I said.

My son however, was able to do it correctly.

To which his sister responded, “My tongue just needs to grow more.”

These are the high-falutin’ conversations I strike up around the dinner table here at the circus.  

(Tell the truth, did you just try to touch your nose with your tongue?  Did it work?)