It was red.  When I first noticed it, I didn’t know what it was or how it came to be inside the jug of milk.  I quickly figured out that it was a piece of cereal, Trix to be specific.

As a parent, I’m used to things not always being exactly as I would like.  I don’t get to stay in bed all night.  I sit in the smelly section at Burger King.  Sometimes my church clothes have snot on them, someone else’s snot.  Cereal floating in the milk was new though, so I asked around.

Y was quick to inform me that J had dropped it into the gallon “because it had soap on it.”  He was quoting his sister and quite amused by her nonsense explanation.  I was less amused, but willing to roll with it.  I was more concerned with making sure I knew WHAT had happened than understanding WHY.  It’s not like three-year-olds are known for their impulse control.

It was a new gallon and we watched the cereal for several days.  Every time the milk came out it was like a Candy Land version of Russian roulette to see who might end up with it in his or her cup.  And this was the part that bothered me.  Not that it might end up mixed with my own cereal (there are far worse places for a piece of cereal to end up), but that the kids kept hoping for the “Trick” to pour out.  I couldn’t convince them that it was still Trix even though there was only one.

You can have one Cheerio or one Corn Flake.  But you cannot singularize something that ends with an X.  Why is it that so many cereals (think about it… Chex, Life, Total, etc.) have no singular?  You always have to say “a piece of” or “a bit of” cereal.  I know, the more important question is why do I care?  I don’t know.  Sometimes something just bugs you.  And having to clarify over and over what it was that was floating in the milk was one of those things.

Mandy appears weekends on TriangleMom2Mom.