Full of Beans

I don't know where he picked up the habit, but Vin is nuts about coffee.  He loves the way it smells and always seems to be trying to swipe my cup.  We learned early that we had to leave any near-empty cups on the back of the counter, safely away from the edge.  I should clarify that we have never - ever intentionally allowed him to have a sip.  For one, if you saw my mother, sister and I standing together you'd understand we don't want to temp the shorty fates.  And the other, of course, that'd be just about the worst parenting thing ever. 

And yet, there have been times where we have forgotten the cup too close to the edge of the counter, he'll get a tiny sip.  Once he took a discarded Starbucks mocha cup out of the trash and slurpped up the chocolate end.  I found him, chin dripping in coca-colored ooze, grinning a wide brown, smudged smile.  I freaked (like a good, consistent, caring parent would, right?)

Once we were at the play park and he climbed up on a bench and was started to crawl around another mom to get to her Caribou cup.  She scooped it away from him just as I nabbed him from behind, hands out stretched protesting, "Maaaa!  Maaa!"  

She laughed and said, "I told him he didn't want any!  It'll stunt your growth," she playfully scolded.  He was undeterred.  It took some major ball crawl action to get him to leave her alone.

Today he got into the coffee beans. I had thought (FOOL!) that I had carefully secured the bag and the box that they bag was inside.  Problem one is that he's getting taller.  Problem two is that he's getting smarter.  He got down the beans and stashed a handful in his toy truck.  I had thought that I'd discovered his deception before it was too late.  I watched from down the hall as he lifted a coffee bean to his mouth (all the while, I'm running slow-mo shouting, "Nooooooo!")  And he crunched it up and ate it.  He ATE A COFFEE BEAN. And then he smiled.  Soon, he started whirling like a dervish.

Vince likes coffee.  He likes it a lot.  It was a long morning for mom.