The other day, as a treat, I took Noah to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.  He always chooses vanilla ice cream in a cone.  I always get a hot fudge sundae.  We are predictable like that.

The Dairy Queen is within walking distance so, to get out of the house and get a little exercise, we walked to get our frozen treats.  Getting a 4 year old to walk any further than 12 steps when it isn’t his idea is quite a chore but, I persevered.  And, even though he complained the entire time we walked there, he was happy licking his ice cream cone the entire walk back.

When we walked into the house, my sundae was already almost gone but his ice cream cone was still just barely licked and was dripping down his chubby little hands and wrists.

Naturally, all of this dripping ice cream was rather interesting to our dog, Poplar, who immediately began following Noah around waiting to clean up any drips (she’s a great cleaner that way).

Well, all of the following and licking made Noah a little flustered and, before I knew it, he was screaming to me from the living room that Poplar was eating his ice cream.

I walk out to find Noah standing with an empty cone, pile of vanilla ice cream splattered on the floor, and our black lab, Poplar, helping herself to the splatter.  So, I do what any good mother would do.

I got a bowl and a spoon, scooped up the remaining ice cream, checked for any random hairs or dirt, and handed it right back to Noah.  He immediately stopped crying and all was right with the world.

Parenting win.