Last night my wife made pancakes for dinner. My almost 3 year old son Caleb and I were eating and I was trying to get him to eat some berries as well as the pancakes. At one point I told him he could try dipping the berries in his pancake syrup.
"Careful," my wife called from the kitchen, no doubt concerned by the prospect of a syrup addicted child.
Caleb tried to dip the blackberry in the small bowl of syrup by holding it in his fingers. When this failed I explained that he could use his fork. When he looked at me confused I showed him how to stab the blackberry with his fork and dip it in the syrup that way. He then proceeded to try doing it on his own. Once he successfully popped the syrupy blackberry in his mouth he looked at me, smiled, patted my hand and said "Thank you Daddy. You did a good job explaining that to me. Good Job Daddy! Now I know how." He squeezed my hand lightly and went back to eating.
"Thank you," I said.
He then ate three more blackberries, without syrup.
"Do you prefer them without syrup?" I asked.
"Yes," he said, eating the last berry. "Much better without syrup."
