My first mistake was buying the wrong brand of Vitamin C for the kids on my last trip to the store. How I could make such a negligent oversight is beyond me. This brand must have been cheaper. Obviously, cheap doesn't cut it with Bennett. He starts to feel his gag reflex surging, so he rushes over to the kitchen sink. His modus operendi in the past whenever he gags is to throw up the undesirable substance into his plate thereby giving us no other option than to wave the white flag and surrender our position. Thankfully, he had the foresight to run to the sink. Lucky for us, nothing came out and I could stand my ground once more.
I was full of helpful hints on how to swallow something your taste buds or brain doesn't like. There was once a time when I, too, was a child and knew all the tricks. I have yet to pass these on to my underlings, so I thought now was a good time. There's always the 'Hold Your Nose, Squint Your Eyes and Chew Really Fast' option. That got me thru many a grapefruit combined with prune juice breakfast combination. I also taught him the 'Take a Small Bite and a Big Drink at the Same Time' combo. He said he already tried that one and it didn't work. I also used the 'Throw Up Right Where You Are Technique' that he is already so successful at. That one must have gotten passed down through the genes because I know I haven't used that one in years, so he couldn't have seen me do it.
I advised him that it was in his best interest to take his vitamin c. I would wait as long as possible. I wasn't giving him a choice in the matter. Once he realized there would be no negotiating and that no amount of whining would work, he caved. It took him 45 minutes to do it, but he did it. He immediately stomped up stairs on a mission.
He came down again, no less than 5 minutes later saying, "Mom, I need to show you something." He then presented me with a lovely green piece of construction paper. He said, "This is how I feel about that vitamin c." On the left side of the paper was a circle with a smiley face in it, however the smile was crossed over. To the right of it he wrote, "pe you gros". On the right hand side of the paper is a stick figure. This figure has small humps on the arms that stretch out horizontally across it's body. Next to the stick figure he writes, "A man hois haf wa strong". (A man who's half way strong). He tells me, "I don't mind being only half way strong if I don't eat any more vitamin c."
So, there you have it...Bennett and his strong feelings for vitamin c. If you ever cross Bennett, watch out, you might just get a random drawing in the mail telling you how he feels.
