Bubblegum Days

Okay, so here it is..the photo of Elizabeth chewing gum for the first time in her little life. Well, it was an unexpected introduction and happened late Sunday afternoon at the Golden Spoon Yogurt Shop where Mei Mei spied a giant gum ball machine with those gum balls the size of ping pong balls. I told Mei Mei,"no you can't have those--those are for big girls." And too my mind, they were--I couldn't imagine a three year old chewing such a giant gum ball. I did notice the slightly mischievious look on her mom Patty's face and next thing I know Mei Mei has a shiny quarter in her hand and suddenly a giant gum ball in her mouth..

Whoa..."she can chew that?" I asked incredulously. Patty laughted as if to say, "this girl has been chewing gum for years."

Once again, Mei Mei is ahead of the pack and there I am sitting with Elizabeth who is looking at me with these giant eyes and look of profound disappointment as Mei Mei chews away happily on her giant yellow gumball. What is a mom to do? I have to admit even though gum chewing was not high on my list of achievements I had hoped for with Elizabeth, I did have this sense that I didn't want her to be the only kid on the block unable to chew a piece of gum (Heaven forbid!). So mama caved in to peer pressure and said. "Sure," when Patty pulled out another shiny silver quarter and treated Elizabeth to her first giant yellow gumball. Of course, I, being significantly less brave than Patty--broke off a little piece for Elizabeth to chew. And chew she did. I have to say she seemed quite pleased with herself and I thought, "another developmental milestone covered."

The good news is that now Elizabeth will be all set for her next plane trip. I have often worried about her ears getting clogged from flying--but now I will will pop a piece of gum in her mouth and let her chew away.

Thanks Patty. I think.