they're watching you.....

...that's exactly what my mother would tell me somewhere around the 2nd grade. she knew that during lunch time, i was tossing my sandwiches overboard like yesterdays garbage and opting to chase my lunch treats with a chocolate milk instead. i don't know how she knew...but she did. i wondered if she had hidden a secret camera in my lunch box...or maybe she was hiding somewhere in the lunch crowd, just waiting to catch me dismissing my pb&j. one day, i found the nerves in the pit of my belly and asked her how she knew. she told me that she had made phone calls to the teachers and lunch aides and they were her secret spies. secret spies? genius. i am however, standing by my former belief that my mother is part {good} witch and just knows these things...a spawn of traditional motherly intuition, if you will.

so last week when i was unpacking landon's backpack and lunch box...the contents, minus one bag of oreo cookies was still in the box. when i interrogated landon about choosing the oreos over everything else, he played confused. he tried his best to sell me on the issue that he wasn't really that hungry...meanwhile, he was scarfing down yogurt and cheetos like he had been stuck on a deserted island all day.

"Landon, you know that they are watching you and they have my phone number and will be calling me after your lunch every day?"

Landon...panicked look followed by nervous mumbles of sorts.

the next day: he ate everything. i think. at least nothing was brought home and he pinky promised me that he ate the sammy and all.

i {almost} feel bad that i remind him everyday that they are watching....but it works and i am pretty sure that it will cost me fortunes in therapy some day. but hey...it worked for my mother, and i turned out okay. mostly.