Chocolate Junkie
Until recently, I never understood the passage “...they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3)
Our first child Jocelyn was born in August of 2005. She is all lady, delicate, soft, sweet, and mostly compliant. The joy she brings into our lives is incredible. Every day brings a laugh and a challenge. It is awesome to watch her discover new things and develop into a social person. Every moment is a hyper-learning experience for her. In just two years, her skills have gone from just smiling to skillfully manipulating others to her will. She has confirmed what I have long suspected: The strongest carnal desire built into our bodies is to satisfy the taste buds. That is clearly related to the first human sin.
At about ten months, mother’s milk was no longer enough, and Jocelyn began her career as a connoisseur of foods. I gave her a chocolate cookie one day when Lori wasn’t home, just to see what she would do. She attacked it like a dog on a ham bone. In six or seven minutes, it was reduced to just a few fragments lingering on her face. It wasn’t long before she learned her third word, repeated constantly with fervor, “chawkur”. At first, we weren’t sure what she was saying. I carried her around the house and told her to show me what she needed. She kept repeating “chawkur”, like a metal detector beeping over an ancient gold coin. She reached her highest peak when I walked in front of the chocolate stash.
Fast-forward to one and a half years later. Lori and I were invited over to a friend’s house for brunch. As we arrived, we were talking about the people we were going to meet and what we were going to be doing. When we parked, I got out of the vehicle and waited for Lori to grab the baby. But Jocelyn suddenly looked sleepy and was saying something I hadn’t heard her say before. She repeated it several times. Walking back to the vehicle I asked Lori, “Is she saying what I think she’s saying?” “I’m tired, Mama, tired.” Looking at Lori, I questioned, “Has she ever said that before?” Lori replied with a quick, “No, I don’t think she even knows what that means.” Furthermore, she had only gotten up two hours earlier, and nap time was several hours away. Peering through the window, I replied, “I guess she does know;” because she was lying on the seat, clutching her blanket tight, and sucking her fingers as she does when she’s ready for bed.
We shut the door, rolled down the window a little, left her there, and walked to the back of the vehicle. I asked Lori quickly if she knew what was going on and why Jocelyn was acting this way. We were concerned, so we walked back to take a look at our sleepy child. But Jocelyn was up and prowling around the center console with all the energy of a practiced burglar. As we came around and looked in the front window, we saw our sweet and innocent baby ripping open a cellophane package of chocolate. Earlier in the day, she had stood by quietly watching as we put the chocolate into the console. She didn’t demand any at the time, because she knows that we greatly limit her consumption of this delightful treat. My two-and a-half-year-old daughter had secretly planned and almost executed an illegal heist of a most precious and guarded treasure. As we stood in amazement laughing, the implications of this premeditated deception, lying, and thievery were startling. My sweet, innocent little daughter is a genuine sinner, just like the first innocent woman in the Garden of Eden! Jocelyn is our first child. It looks to me like being a dad and a mom is just about to get tougher.
