Maybe She's Part Heinz?

I have this granddaughter. Cutie by nickname.

This weekend Cutie came in with her dad for a visit. And while Cutie was here, Nana got to take her out to the local pancake house for brunch. You can see a photo of Cutie enjoying her meal above. Needless to say, we had us some fun.

At 2-1/2 years old, Cutie has a good appetite. I ordered her the kiddie pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon. The Girl was there with us, and laughed out loud when Cutie's food came. Apparently she was hungry, because she took one of the small pancakes on her plate and shoved the whole thing into her mouth at the same time.

It warms the cockles of my heart to see how much she takes after her father in that regard. Truly, it does.

Her cheeks bulging with pancake, she reached for another. I stopped her just before the next one was snatched and cut up all of her pancakes and eggs into small bites. So she went for the bacon strip. And before I knew it, the bacon, he was history.

Between drinks of "chock-it milk" the eggs were the next to meet their demise. But before they were quite finished, she spied something on the table. Something a good friend of mine once called "the elixir of the suburban." Her favorite condiment in the world.

Ketchup.

Now, bear in mind there was no syrup on her pancakes. She'd been eating them with no complaint completely plain. So when she asked very politely if she could have some ketchup, please, The Girl thought it would be a hoot to oblige her. After all, she reasoned, after her first taste of ketchup on pancakes she would surely give it up.

The Girl misjudged Cutie's love for the elixir of the suburban in a very big way.

From then on, each and every piece of pancake that went into Cutie's mouth was ceremoniously dipped into the red stuff first. And if that wasn't enough, she then ran her fingers over the plate to make sure she got every last drop. It was a good thing we were stocked with baby wipes.

No, she didn't finish the whole plateful of food. But she ate almost all of it, a lot for someone her age.

And 75% of it was covered in ketchup.