Memory

Yesterday our friend Tiffani was in town and came by to visit. She lived in Knoxville, then moved to Connecticut for a couple of years and has just moved back to K-town. We've seen her a few times at different events, but the kids haven't seen her since she was at our house last four years ago. Four years ago, she had an internship (or was working on a grant or something) and she would drive up and stay with us two days a week for about six weeks. I was pretty sure all of the children except Havoc (who was only 3 last time) would remember her. The Ninja Princessa gave Tiffani a bright hug. Chaos shuffled up and gave her one of his shy, crushing, bear hugs. Havoc (clearly not remembering her) decided to hang back and wave. Mayhem? Snapped his fingers, got an Ah-Ha! look on his face and blurted out, "You left your peanut butter here!" THEN he hugged her. We all laughed. He explained later that he remembered her because he hadn't been allowed to eat her food and he'd had an eye on her peanut butter. It had a "T" on the lid which meant it was off limits to him. Of course that made him want it more. Never mind that we had plenty of peanut butter in the house, he wanted to have some of THAT peanut butter.

I'm thinking I should label the veggies 'off limits' in the fridge. Do you think Mayhem might be more willing to try them if I did that? And also, since all of his cognitive functions seem to be cross-wired to food-cravings, maybe I should attach a food value to remembering vital chores. "Remember (for once!) to make your bed? Two graham crackers for you." With any other child I don't think that would be healthy, but I'm at wit's end with Mayhem forgetting things! If the boy can remember a specific jar of peanut butter from four years ago then I'm thinking this is the way to go. Oh, the wacky mommy-ness of it all!
Peace.