To have or have not

So I'm not going to blame Grampy... okay, I'm going to blame Grampy. See, when we were visiting the Delaware grandparents for two weeks following our crazy move to Las Vegas, Grampy thought it was awesome that Stella loved ice cream. In a cone. Preferably from the DQ. We didn't have a DQ in Santa Barbara, much less desserts every night. (We did make our own ice cream, which Stella would enjoy, as well as lemon ice... but besides the general banana bread/muffin thing we do, dessert wasn't a usual occurrence). But Las Vegas has a DQ. Lewes has a DQ. and Grammy and Grampy always had some sort of snack hanging around the house after dinner to enjoy.

Let's just say Stella took a liking to dessert every night.

Let's also say that Mommy and Daddy did not. It's not that we forbid sugar in the house - on the contrary. Friday morning Stella told me at 6am that she wanted scones for breakfast. But dessert every night for a girl that is very affected by sugar? Ugh.

So lately during dinner the usual fight is "if i eat all my dinner, can I have ice cream?" or "After dinner I will still be hungry so I will need ice cream" -- this is usually spouted when her plate is still full of food. Some nights, we give in. Usually those are the nights when she ends up eating most of her dinner, there is minimal whining and crying throughout the day, and we don't even have to ask. Those are the nights that I feel should be rewarded. However, there have been one or two nights when the pleading for ice cream gets so intense (and the food consumption so little) that we put our foot down, to rivers of tears and "I won't ever ever like you again" (the newest phrase).

Last night Stella started whispering. What Stella, I asked? She kept whispering.  What are you saying, I asked again.

"Oh, I'm just whispering that I want ice cream after dinner. If I whisper and you can't hear it, then you can't say no."

Well played.