Share and Share Alike

It's no secret. Jeremiah struggles with sharing. While we can get him to share toys, occasionally, food is an entirely different matter. He loves to eat and loves to keep his food to himself. He is known as the vacuum in nursery: there to eat up what the other kids leave behind. The other day the kids got slushies from Sonic for completing the first level of the library reading program. Stuart and I decided to get a frosty. At one point Jeremiah asked for a bite and I asked for a bite of his slush. "Um," he replied, "How about you give me a bite and I'll share my blanket with you when we are home. That's a good idea." So you can see how he has difficulty sharing food with others.

Apparently however, this need to not share food extends beyond the human population. The other day Claire and Jeremiah were eating crackers outside. Jeremiah dropped some crumbs and shouted to me, "Mommy the ants are taking away my cracker!" I sauntered over to see the ants moving a small piece of cracker across the pavement. I said, "Yup, looks like they're hungry too." To which Jeremiah said, "But they'll take it back to their home and eat it." I confirmed his response. Then before I knew what was really happening Jeremiah bent over, picked up that miniscule crumb (and I'm really hoping just the crumb) and popped it into his mouth. Then he said, "That was MY cracker."

I half laughed half gagged. I said, "Jeremiah, we don't eat food off the ground." To which his pleading, high pitched, voice simply said, "I just really wanted to eat all of my cracker mommy. I didn't want the ants to have it."

Guess I know what to continue working on....