Kinder Bars

To my son Tommy,

When I lived overseas as an army brat in a younger life, I used to eat a certain chocolate bar.  It was mostly milk surrounded by just a little chocolate.  It depended on which country I was living in but the name was either Kinder Schokolade or Kinder Cioccolato and for the extra creamy type there was Kinder Riegel.  They were cheap over there (or at least to the best of my memory) and they seemed to be everywhere and were a good alternative to the omnipresent Toblerone.

One of my favorite stores in the immediate area is Old World Deli and Bakery.  Actually it is up in the Randallstown area by your grandmother's house.  Because it carries so many products from the Europe that were common place as I grew up,  I often shop there for simple nostalgia purposes.  When you combine this store, and my desire to pass on things from my life and my youth to you, and an occasional sense of desperation when it comes to your eating habits, you end up with a four year old with an expensive habit.

One day while buying some weisswurst for you grandmom at the Old World, I spied these confections from my youth.  The price was a bit more than I remembered but at the time no price was too expensive if I could find something (anything) you would eat.  Who knew you would be hooked.

Now every two or three weeks, we stop by and pick up refills.  Mostly they are saved for you school lunch, but occasionally you get a treat (aka bribe) if you eat your dinner well.  I never knew (until recently) they were made by the Italian company Ferrero which also makes two of my other favorites, Ferrero Rocher and Nutella.  I guess being made in Italy, that is why I remember the Kinder bars being cheaper and they are a bit more expensive in the U.S. nowadays.  Oh well, it is a bond between father and son and you are worth every extra penny it costs.  But remember, I like cheaper chocolates too, like Hershey kisses, they are made only a state away!

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

P.S. Picture is blatantly borrowed from the Ferrero site

Negotiation

To my son Tommy,

Congress would be wise to learn from your negotiating skills.  Come dinner time you start wheeling and dealing on bite count.  You use delay tactics and misdirection and even a little fuzzy logic to achieve your goals.  In fact, if you were dumber and had less morals and were more self centered and totally oblivious and become accustomed to not telling the truth, you could have a very successful career in either the House or the Senate.

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo

That's My Order

To my son Tommy,

You have been on a roll lately with your sayings.  The other day when your mom asked you what you did at school, your answer was "ummm...I just did the pre-K thing".  You also have been throwing back my common advice phrase of "First things first" when either of us gets ahead of ourselves.  You picked up "dog gone it" from your Great Aunt Lulu and we have been working on the appropriate use of that lament.  A parent of one of your classmates told us you are so pleasant in the morning with a "Hi Madalynn, Good Morning Madalynn's mom!" which makes us very proud.

But tonight, tonight you took your own life in your hands with a quick quip.  Yesterday, you made a stride in your food challenges and ate 7 or 8 bites of spinach and fish and mashed potatoes.  We were elated.  In attempt to repeat the experience tonight, even though we are substituting chicken for the fish, we started some pre-dinner discussions.  After some wheeling and dealing and cajoling and such we agreed on 11 bites of each of the three foods and you escaped adding carrots to the mix.  As you mom was walking away...you said, "11 bites of spinach, and 11 bites of chicken, and 11 bites of mashed potato.  Yep.  That's my order." with the same attitude a (not so gentlemanly) guy would demand a "sammich".  I thought we had escaped any incident but your mother came back in and asked incredulously, "Did he just say that is his order?!?"  All I can say is it is a good thing you are so darn cute.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo