But I NEED it!

We have been hearing a lot of this lately in our house. I have been trying to talk to her about the differences between the things that she NEEDS and the things that she wants. It is safe to say that she does not have the concept down yet but we will continue to work on it.

I however am having a difficult time keeping a straight face when she starts with "I NEED it" so when she starts I giggle and then I repeat it back to her. If she is crying for whining for what she NEEDS it usually stops and we just end up fooling around. I would say that 90% of the time she forgets what it is that she NEEDS so desperately so I think it is working.

First off let me set the situation up. I really do not like ice cream. Shocking I know but there is something with the smell of it that usually turns me off about it. I do like coffee ice cream even though I do not really drink coffee. Usually we do not have ice cream in the house, pretty much never. I have a small refridator by choice (I wanted more cabinets) so the freezer is small and ice cream does not make the cut for the small space I have in there so no ice cream in the house.

Gerard is a bit of an ice cream junky. Funny but he can not pass a Dairy Queen without stopping. Rita's water ice are even higher on the list. I realized he had a Rita's water ice problem when we started showing up on opening day and of course on the last day for the season. I realized he had a big problem with Rita's water ice when we started to alternate between two in our area.

Gerard's addiction to Rita's water ice is one I will happily accept. For those outside the country who do not know what a Rita's water ice is here is a link, honest just frozen yogurt. One Rita's water ice is just on the side of the road. The other one is next to a lake with geese to chase and a park. Hmmm which do you think Anna likes best?

So I left for work last night, Anna was ready for bed and looking a little tired after a day at the beach. I thought great perhaps this will be an early night for her. Anna needs her sleep, preferably 10-12 hours every night. Yes she sleeps that much at night and soundly.

So last night Gerard put her to bed and went to bed himself. I got a message with a picture at about 8:45 pm of Anna eating Rita's water ice. Apparently, she fell asleep but woke up, wandered out of the bedroom to find Gerard. She woke him up to tell him " Wake up Dada, go Dada truck now, I NEED cream (that is what she calls ice cream), red one, park, swings, that cream. I NEED it!"

Not wanting to say no mostly because I am sure now he NEEDED cream too off they went to Rita's. I guess Gerard and I will have to have a talk about the things Anna NEEDS.

This story made me smile because she knew that she could wake him for anything, even ice cream. Even though I do not think either of them really NEEDED it I am so happy that they went and got it. I am reminded every day how lucky I am to have both of them in my life. They really know how to make me smile.