The Enforcer

I have definitely found the secret to the perfect diet - - get a four year-old involved.  Ever since I imposed the "one sweet a day" restriction upon Alexa, she has made sure the policy is also followed by Damon and myself.  I would not be surprised if Alexa becomes a personal trainer; she watches my eating habits like a hawk!  Tonight she saw me grab a chocolate-covered pretzel stick out of the freezer, and called me out, saying, "That's your sweet for the day, Mommy!"  Dang it....one little pretzel, and I was done for the day.

With the exception of an occasional extra sweet, this rule has been one of the best parenting decisions I have made.  It has definitely made my life easier and minimized the number of disagreements with her.  Alexa wakes up each morning, plotting her one sweet for the day, and she's very cautious not to eat a treat in the interim.  Today was the perfect example, as before I left for work, she was telling me about her plan to have a scoop of ice cream (frozen yogurt) with strawberry syrup tonight after dinner.  However, when I picked her up from school, she was begging me for a chocolate chip cookie.  Wouldn't you know it, when we stopped at Spinato's to pick up a pizza (yes, I was lazy tonight...busy time of year at work), a display of cookies adorned the carry-out counter.  I really did not want to spend $3.99 for six chocolate-chip cookies, but I gave her the option of one cookie or the ice cream.  After some careful examination of the cookies, she opted for the ice cream, and I did not hear another word about the cookies as we waited for our pizza.  Music to my ears....

Since Alexa's so good at enforcing things, I should really start to tell her my running mileage goal for each day.  There's no way I would hop off the treadmill early if Alexa was overseeing my workout! :)

No sneaking sweets with this kiddo;
extra spoonfuls of cottage cheese are okay though.