The Domino Effect

Yesterday morning, I was vaguely annoyed at not finding the sugar in its usual place when I went to prepare my morning hypercaffeination. It turned out that Amy had put the five-pound bag of Domino sugar on top of the refrigerator, to keep it more-or-less out of Daniel's reach. That woman was wise beyond my comprehension.

Today, I hypercaffeinated and didn't bother with the little Domino-on-top-of-the-refrigerator formality, just leaving it on the counter which, after all, is far higher than Daniel can reach. ...Can reach unassisted, that is. But Daniel has a little chair...

I was on the couch holding Madeleine today, while Amy was out shopping, when I saw Daniel grab that same bag of Domino sugar, and I instructed him to put it down, which he did for a short time. However, the boys had been playing restaurant (bringing tupperware containers full of "vegetables" and "oatmeal" an "pancakes", among other delicacies, to me and Madeleine on the couch, as well as random pots, pans and other receptacles). Well, Daniel decided that the sugar would look better in a pot, and the pot he selected was a strainer. And he dutifully brought me and Madeleine an ever-less-voluminous order of sugar-a-la-strainer, with a rather elegant stream of sucrose streaking across the kitchen and livingroom floors behind him, piling up elegantly like the sand in an hour-glass.

What followed was some baritone bellowing bouncing off the walls of both rooms, accompanied by an impromptu sugar festival for the young. It was like that scene in "A Tale of Two Cities" when the wine cask fell off the wagon and the entire impoverished class of Paris had a spur-of-the-moment wine-tasting party in the gutter. Except that in this case, there was a Daddy to yell at them to stop, for what it's worth. The sugar banquet attendees included Ian, Daniel and D.J. Madeleine would likely have enjoyed participating, but she was evacuated by air to a different part of the livingroom as I ran to get the vacuum cleaner.

Luckily, the Queen of No Eating Sugar was out of the house at the time. Ian, who spends many more hours of the day with her than I do, had predicted that she wouldn't be happy with the glittering new highway that ran through our house. I believe him.