Can you stop at just ONE Otter Pop?

Mark finds it fascinating, and maybe a little revolting (maybe that's too strong a word) that Slade and I can down 5 otter pops together in less than 5 minutes. He thinks we have built up a tolerance to the sugar rush b/c 10 minutes later we are ready for bed.

Slade is addicted to pop-ickles as he calls them. He pulls open the freezer door whenever he can and calls out their name affectionately pleading with us to relent to his desire. They are totally his crack.

I'm pretty convinced that he has developed a true love of all things sweet and none vegetable due to nursing for 15 months straight from a source that only contributed things of this nature. I now have to resort to hiding veggies in his food, luckily he loves fruit and everything else that is good for him...he just also love love love love loves all that is also not as good for him - much like his mother.

Mark is very good about eating well and being concerned about his health. As for me - during my 'anorexic days' as I like to refer to them I was an exercising fool and I subsisted on all things sugar and Chinese. I weighed 120 at the time - now postpregnancy I am a much healthier eater, MUCH, but as my lifestyle has changed so, I'm not hoping to get back into those size 6's anytime soon....but someday!

Mark and I have very different upbringings- mine were filled with moving an average of every year or so up until the age of 14 (when we settled down for awhile finally when dad retired from the military). Mark was a very stable country boy who earned more than enough merit badges for his Eagle, put himself through college full-ride scholarship to boot graduating very top of his class and with high honors, bought a home very responsibly at a young age. He and I are very different with very different backgrounds- but our most interesting difference (well, to me anyhow) fall into the category of our rewards systems.

Mark is rewarded by a job well done or by personal satisfaction of having utilized his time wisely. My rewards in life always came in the form of an edible treat in one way or another. Very often I begin a story from my childhood when some treat has sparked a fond memory. Such as when we'd go to my PawPaw's house, he'd always give us Klondike Bars and Oatmeal Creme Pies. Or when we'd travel cross country- to get us to behave my parents would intermittently offer us various fun treats like Sixlets or M & M's or Gummy Bears. Or when we'd go to the beach we'd get to buy Pringles (we were a very large family on a not-so-large budget so these were a big deal!). Or when we'd visit my Aunt in Orem, UT we'd get to go to the corner store and buy Bonkers or Fun Dip. Or when we'd go on family picnics or have birthday picnics we'd get KFC! Now that was a REAL treat! To this day when I feel like celebrating that is often where I go, or think to go fondly, to get the food. My siblings all recollect memories the same way as well, so it's not just me.

In our home you'd have to HIDE the good stuff that mom brought home if you ever wanted to have any of it for later. We'd often forget we'd even hid anything until one of us was cleaning the kitchen later and would find it stuffed behind the cleaning supplies and more than stale and being T.O.'d that it had gone to waste b/c they were greedy (despite being guilty of the same myself). I remember our parents taking us to the PX when we'd do our grocery shopping together as a family (everyone had to have a hand on the cart at all times, it was crowded!) - we'd shop in the dented cans section or just out of expiration isles/stores and our parents would reward us for our good behavior by letting us each choose our OWN box of sugar cereal for Saturday mornings!

Now, I always thought this was normal and fun and think that way to this day. I like to reward Slade accordingly and Mark thinks that I'm a bit wonky and is sometimes concerned of what Slade's memories will be based on someday.

Is there anyone out there in this same (or similar, I'll take similar) predicament? I mean, in our defense, we moved around so much always having to sleep in hotelrooms, make new friends only to leave them shortly thereafter, never really get settled into life or build memories around environmental hobbies - the only one true thing we could depend on for comfort was TREATS! Ok, now I am scaring myself a bit!