Days of You and Me: Day 10, Green Gummy Goodness

For the last ten days, when Annabelle wakes up, she greets me by asking for 2 things: “Can I have breakfast?”  and “I wanna choose a card.”  Our wall of cards for our “days of you and me” is slowly becoming bare; as we remove one card each day, spending time together being creative together, and snapping photos for our memory journal (something I hope to put together at the end of the month), I feel the bittersweet-ness of our last days together, just her and me.  She tells me everyday, though, how much she loves her brother and how she cannot wait for him to come out (“when’s he comin’ out of your belly Mamma?”).  She also says she can’t wait to hold him (the way she holds her best friend’s baby sister Nikou, on her lap).  Oh do I share her feelings, and yet, here I am, wanting to savor what is, right now . . .

This morning, Annabelle chose “Color of the Day Snack.”  First, I asked her what color she’d like to for her special snack; surprisingly, she chose green (orange is her favorite color).  I thought a bit about what kind of green colored snacks we might make . . . I wanted to stay away from simply adding food coloring to a milk shake . . . it seemed too easy.  I queried friends on Facebook and received several great suggestions for green-colored snacks: green m&ms on celery with peanut butter, kiwi, grapes, green jello, green fruit roll ups, green juice, green gummy worms (eating only the green sections), green apple slices, and green eggs and ham.

After thinking about our yummy green snack ideas, I asked Annabelle what she’d like.

Me: What would you like for your green snack today?  Want green peanut m&ms on celery with peanut butter?

Annabelle: Uh-uh.

Me: Yeah? Green m&ms on celery?

Annabelle: No.

Me: Okay, green grapes?

Annabelle: No.

Me: Uh, how about we make a green smoothie?

Annabelle: Ummm . . .

Me: I know.  What about green ice cream with green gummy bears on top?

Well, you can guess how she answered (hint: see below).

Inside the ice cream shop, I let the shop owners in on our “green snack” day.  I told them we would need green gummy bears, and only green gummy bears, on our honey dew melon ice cream.   They both smiled, noted Annabelle standing beside me, and then diligently picked among the gummy bears until they’d selected just about each and every green one in the bin.  One held Annabelle’s cup while the other carefully used tongs to place the bears, as though each one had its precise spot.  It truly was a beautiful green-gummy-bear-melon cup of yum.

Annabelle had no problem digging in . . .

she savored each bite, puckering her mouth,

scooping ice cream as fast as she could, not noticing how it was melting, dripping off her spoon . . .

eating ice cream is one of those things . . . it brings us right into the moment,

but in between bites, she’d pause and ask me, “Like it Mommy?  Huh, you like it?”  I did (though mine didn’t have the gummy bears, :-) ).

Then out of the corner of her eye, Annabelle seemed to notice something.  I too, gazing at her through my lens, noticed her noticing.  Just behind us, one of the shop workers was smiling, watching her eat her green bears and melon ice cream; when I turned and smiled, he appeared startled and pretended to be busy, wiping down the shop window.

Annabelle didn’t miss a beat, though; there were more gummy bears to chew,

and when all the gummy-gooey-goodness was devoured, she made one more request: to walk the balance beam (a cement planter rail) beside our table,

around and around she walked, balancing her way, until at last it was time to go home . . .