Pickle Phenomenon

Zoe and I were eating cheese sandwiches for lunch, and so a pickle on the side seemed like a great idea. She loved her pickle SO much, she gobbled it straight down and wanted another one immediately. Half way into round two, she realized that eating TWO big dill pickles at a high speed is NOT such a great idea.

"I don't like it."

"Okay. Just leave it on your plate." At this point she reached over and put the half-eaten item on MY plate. I picked it up and put it on HER plate.

"No, not on MY plate. Just leave it on YOUR plate. When you're all done, and you put your plate in the sink you can put the pickle in the sink, too." She whisked it off her plate as if it were germ-infested, (oh wait, I just realized that having a germy item on a dinner plate might not bother a 3 year old), and AGAIN tried to put it on MY plate.

At this point she had a half-eaten, germ-encrusted (let's just say), drippy pickle in her fist, dangling it over my plate. I had a firm grip on her forearm, preventing the unwanted deposit and we each displayed a fierce scowl. "Fine. If you don't want it on your plate, set it on the table. When we clean up we'll put it in the trash."

"No!! Put it on YOUR plate! YOU TAKE IT!" she frantically and desperately declared (near tears?! with a quivering lip). Fine! I just took it on my plate in a huff.

So, as my first entry into the Annals of Weibellish Psychology, I enter the Pickle Phenomenon: The belief, by a young child, that Mother's plate is the ONLY acceptable way in which to dispose of unwanted food encountered during a meal.

I don't really understand it, but if the young child learns to operate on the sly, I may make a second entry into the Annals. Explained: The Unexpected Weight-Gain of the Mother Who Sits Next to the 3-year Old at Meals.