Don't Worry Daddy, He'll Eat Less Than Liberace

After peeling my 1,000th apple as a mother, I started to appreciate why my mom got mad if we stole apples she was peeling and slicing for pie. I am quite adept at peeling fruit now, but I can't say I enjoy it. Nevertheless, children who eat fruit are much smarter, cuter, and happier than other children, so if I have to clean, peel, and slice the fruit I will.

One of my least favorites is watermelon, because even with the most avid watermelon eating troupe, some of the watermelon (and my associated hard work) is going to get pitched. The small watermelons in the stores now are not so bad, but they are still more fruit than our family can eat inside the watermelon freshness window. As an experiment, a few weeks ago I cut up half the watermelon and then wrapped the other half in Glad press 'n' seal to see if it would last longer.

Marty is our biggest watermelon fan, but he is still unable to eat it without staining at least four articles of clothing and either some furniture or a rug. The other day, I heard him open the refrigerator, and I asked if I could help him. He told me he was just getting some watermelon. I had sealed the cut pieces in a ziploc bag, so I went to the kitchen to help, get him a plate, and see if I could trick him into eating it outside without a shirt on.

If I wasn't so tired and I hadn't been conducting the half watermelon experiment, I might have just sat back to see what would happen when he carried this:


out of the kitchen. Now, although I have no doubt that he was going to eat it, I'll never know how he would have done it. That would have been a much more entertaining picture.