Sweet Tooth

Mr. Meh has a serious sweet tooth.

It's not just that he always manages to spy Andy or myself out every time we try surreptitiously to sneak in a few bites of chocolate or a cookies in the kitchen hiding behind the wall and the cabinet door.

It's not just that he knows where cookies and chocolate live in the house and demands to be hoisted up to them so he can take a piece.

This sweet tooth has extended to the toddler birthday parties we've attended in the last few months:

December, Sammy's party:
Already aware of his sweet tooth, I stayed way in the back during the happy birthday cake singing. Despite hiding from the cake, a piece floated my way. So Ivan and I shared it. Every time we eat cake, I try to eat two-thirds of it, not just because of my serious sweet tooth, but also out of my motherly concern to shield him away from the rotten influence of sweets.

After everyone had cleared from the dining room and the cake, and had moved on to other activities, Ivan moved in while I looked away. I caught him trying to reach for cake crumbs and the plates with leftover eaten cake.

December, Daycare holiday party:
Food and deserts were laid out on low table in the hallway. No other kids really cared about the tables, except for Ivan. He circled and circled the plates of brownies and other sweets, trying to reach for every single piece. Finally, he and I shared a brownie. I ate the last bit while he wasn't looking. Except then he looked at the plate, at me and back at the plate, exclaimed all concerned and in disbelief "nem?," and slid out of my lap to run to get more cake. Since I couldn't deter him from it, we shared another tiny piece.

When Andy arrived, he fixed himself a plate with Ivan's help. (Well, Ivan was cruising around the brownie table trying to poke his fingers in). There was food and a brownie. Ivan proceeded to feed Andy. He fed him a forkfull of mac and cheese, and then fed himself a forkfull of brownie.

Christmas time
I don't even recall where and how many sweets he ate.

January, Emir's party:
After being cranky, whiny and completely inconsolable for the first two hours of the party, where we had to retreat to Emir's room to chill out, we reemerged back at the party just in time for happy birthday and cake cutting. Kristina made two cakes--an Elmo and a Cookie monster cake. Ivan and I share a piece. I ate the last bit. When he realized I ate the cake, he took the plate and the fork out of my hands, slid off my lap, marched across the room and extended his arms to hand the plate to Kristina who was still doling out the cake. I tried to intervene, but it did no good. He gave up on the plate and instead decided climb on a chair to reach for the actual cake. I gave in and let him have a small piece. After he finished the piece, he went off to play (finally) but he clung on to the plate for another 15 minutes before he walked it over to the trash and threw it in.

February, his party:
I think that every grandparent--all four of them--fed him a piece of cake.

March, Seger's party:
After the kids were done running around in the gym, they all sat down to eat---pizza and cupcakes. Ivan didn't touch the pizza but when the cupcakes arrived, he dug in. Every mom, including Seger's moms, were cracking up, watching him eat the cupcake.

At all these parties, other kids didn't seem to notice or care for the sweets as much as he does. This concerns me a bit. Is he going to have a serious sweet tooth? What if becomes an overweight, under-active kid? What if all his baby (and adult) teeth rot out by the age of 4 because of the sweets he eats and his refusal to let us brush teeth (not to mention the entire bottle saga, which still continues)?

I have only a short period while I can control his eating habits and create healthy habits before he's exposed to external influences. I feel like I'm already loosing the battle. And considering that my parents, who see him regularly, are really willing enablers of sweets eating ("oh, he's a baby. He should be able to eat a bit of sweets and everything else!") really upsets me.
Every time I raise it with them, we end up fighting over it.

Andy's parents are equally bad with giving him cookies but since he doesn't see often, I let it slide. But it's really amazing how remembers where they keep cookies in the house even though he rarely goes there.