Friday, July 17, 2009

Outsmarted!

If you've never read The Gruffalo, it is an extremely clever rhyming PB by Julia Donaldson. A little mouse outsmarts everyone who wants to eat him. The fox. The owl. The snake. Even the big hungry Gruffalo with his knobbly knees and turned out toes, and poisonous wart at the end of his nose. It is bloody brilliant. Americans are a little slow to appreciate the genius of Donaldson, but in England, she is a household name.

Anyway, I love when characters get outsmarted. So, Becky and I decided to give this theme a try.

Not sure we are clever enough to pull it off though. It is a slight clue that I am no Julia Donaldson when it takes me three days to figure out how to get my son to take his medicine. He is only four. I should have been able to outwit the little guy sooner, don't you think? But no. We tried putting it in lemonade. He said, "Yuck!" We tried colored yogurt. He said, "Yuck!" After wasting like half a bottle, we realized on the third day that if we put it in gatorade and DON'T TELL him its in there, he will drink it. So, now we give it to him after camp, and at bed time when he says, "What about my medicine?" we say, "Oh, that? Um, you're better. You don't need it anymore."

Yup, not a genius.

7 comments:

Rebecca said...

I have to give my daughter chocolate milk or a spoonful of Hershey's syrup every night after her medicine. I guess Mary Poppins was right! I'll have to check The Gruffalo out.

Susan R. Mills said...

Glad you found a way to outsmart him. They know way more than we think they do, don't they?

Kate Karyus Quinn said...

LOL, I love how you outsmarted your son! So far my son loves the taste of the children's tylenol and medicine of that sort that we've given him.

Thanks for the book recommend too - I'll have to check that out!

Yat-Yee said...

It's scary when Gatorade can mask the smell and taste of yucky meds!

Love your "bloody brilliant" description of the Brit.

Ladybird World Mother said...

Oh well done!! Quite something to outsmart the Smart! And I love the Gruffalo... such a good book. Youngest adores it!

C said...

Hehe, ignorance is bliss, especially when you get gatorade :)

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

we love Julia donaldson! my hubby is from UK so his mom sends us them for holidays. she has alot!