MORE THAN ENOUGH
“Never feed him a lot. Never more than a spot! Or something may happen. You never know what.”
One of the books Sage reads quite well is 'A Fish out of Water' by Helen Palmer Geisel, the wife of Dr. Seuss. In the book, a boy has purchased a fish called Otto and is instructed not to overfeed him...or else. He fails to heed Mr. Carp's warning which causes all sorts of problems as the fish grows larger and larger with the boy not knowing what to do next.
Such was the case with Sage today as he sat to breakfast. I fed him one small glass of strawberry banana smoothie and two pieces of bread with almond butter and sour cherry jam. He requested another glass of smoothie and gulped it down before I had a chance to finish my first one. He seemed hungry but it turns out the second smoothie was more than enough.
He was tired, not from a lack of sleep rather from both the heat and the abundance of food in his belly. Unlike Otto the fish, he did not keep growing but slowed down in today's game. When I told my boyfriend, he gave me that look. The look which said I should have known better than feed my child before a game. Next time I will make sure to feed him simply one piece of bread with water.
Despite my overfed son, he played to the best of his abilities until the last ball was played. He was happy his team won the game and happy to be leaving the sun's intense heat. As we climbed into the car, he told me he wished he could play soccer indoors. I told him he would have to endure the heat and rain, when it arrives, just as the real players. My reply did not please him.
Sometimes you think you are doing something for the good but it ends up being for the worse. Next time things will be better as I will remember what happened when I fed my son more than enough. As for Otto, Mr. Carp came to the rescue and somehow mysteriously returned the fish to its normal size whilst the boy vowed to listen in the future.
