Ella & I recently had an afternoon chat at Caribou in Canal Park with our friend Alyssa. After getting settled in, Ella discovered Alyssa’s frozen coffee drink and tried just a sip. I got a bit excited and thought it might be a great time for Ella to have her first own little blended drink in a wee cup. I’m sure the girl behind the counter could sense my giddiness as I ordered a junior-sized cookies & cream Snowdrift. Fancy, fancy, fancy. I never order anything like that! And yes, I allowed them to load the top with whipped cream. I proudly handed it to Ella and watched her enjoy the first few sips. What a big girl.
So there we sat, enjoying our Caribou drinks in the busyness of the shop, chatting with our friend. Ella decided she enjoyed sticking the straw into the top of the cup and using it like a spoon rather than sucking it through the straw. Maybe I should have sensed through my still-developing mama sensor that this was leading to disaster, but I was enjoying the experience too much.
And then it happened. In one swift move, the cup slid off the table, poured down Ella’s entire outfit, and landed with a plop on the floor. Oy. Goodbye to three-quarters of the yummy treat my girl was still enjoying. After getting both the floor and Ella cleaned up, she finished what was left in the cup. In the end, it didn’t actually matter a bit that she lost most of the drink. Really, it was so much more about the experience we shared together.
I’m glad we’re only at the beginning of those experiences.
