As I was cleaning up from breakfast the other morning, I noticed my four year old climb up to the counter and grab a Hershey’s Kiss out of the bowl there. It was an impressive climb. He started with a chin-up using the edge of the counter. Then he managed to get his sneaker on to the top of the cabinet door and stood up on it. He balanced on one foot, leaned forward, and grabbed a candy before jumping backwards back to the floor.

When he landed, he found me standing right next to him. He looked up at me with his big brown eyes. “Mom said we could have candy after breakfast.”

“I did not,” his mom said, putting her cup of tea down. “I said you couldn’t have it before breakfast.”

The big guy looked back up at me, holding up the now-unwrapped kiss, and smiled.

I turned and walked away. “I’m staying out of this one. But that certainly sounded like permission to me.”

Not that I’m picking sides or anything, but “not before breakfast” certainly implies ”it’s okay after breakfast.”