Dot: “Joe, eat your sandwich!”

Joe: (stares at sandwich in silence.)

Dot: “It’s grilled cheese – your favorite!”

Joe in quiet defiance:  “I don’t want to…”

Dot: “If you eat your sandwich I’ll let Whitney give you a cookie for dessert.”

Joe grinned:  “How ’bout we just skip to the cookie right now?”

Dot: “Just eat your sandwich!”

This goes on for 10 more minutes, until I say, “Dot, he did eat most of his soup…”

Dot looked into his soup bowl:  “Oh alright then. Take his sandwich away and give him half a cookie.”

Joe downed his cookie while grinning at Dot the whole time.

Dot: “Too bad you only got half of a cookie…”

Joe winked at me:  “Half of a cookie is better than no cookie at all!”