A few days ago, my aunt brought a tin of Christmas candy to my grandfather’s house.  Acorn was playing in the living room while the adults played a board game in the dining room, but he realized pretty quickly that there was a rare treat to be had.  So I made him practice saying, “Candy, please,” before he could have a piece.

This went on for a little while, and at some point my mother took over the handing out of the candy, as she was sitting closer to the box.  And then she took a piece out of the box and set it on the table so it would be ready the next time Acorn asked for a piece.   Of course, when he came over to ask for a piece of candy, he saw it sitting there on the table, and just took it and went back to the living room.

He sat down by his blocks, and started to put the candy in his mouth.  Inches from his mouth, his hand stopped.  He hopped up, ran back to the dining room, and set the piece of candy back on the table where it had been.

“Ca di p li z?” he asked.