After a long afternoon of assembling baby gear with Justin, he announced that he was hungry. He politely asked if I would make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I told him that I would. He then happily walked over to the sofa and sat in his favorite seat in anticipation of what my “magical” culinary skills would produce. I went into the kitchen and made an amazing (if I may say so) P.B. & J sandwich. I put it on his special plate and then set it down next to him while he continued to watch cartoons. He completely ignored me, so I then went back to building the baby bouncer.

A few minutes later, Justin got off the sofa and came over to me. “Daddy,” he said. “I’m very dis-A-ppointed!!” I was surprised and asked what I had done to disappoint him. He then said, “Daddy! I asked you to cut my sandwich (he did not), but you didn’t cut my sandwich and I asked you to cut my sandwich. You need to make me another one!” He was very angry. I calmed him down and told him that I was happy to cut his sandwich, but that I didn’t need to make another one. “No, daddy. I need a NEW sandwich.”

Once again, I reassured him that I could simply cut the sandwich he had and all would be well. I asked him to bring the sandwich into the kitchen. “No, daddy. I need a NEW sandwich. You need to make a NEW one because you made my sandwich wrong.” As I got up from the floor, I looked over at the plate I delivered his sandwich on. It was empty.

“Justin….where is the sandwich I just made for you?” Sheepishly, he took a step back and pointed at his belly. “So, you were angry because the sandwich wasn’t cut, but you ate it anyway and now you want me to make another one correctly?”

And then, without cracking a smile, he pointed his finger at me and replied, “Yes, daddy – and make it just like the last one! That was delicious!”

It’s been 24 hours since this incident and I can’t figure out if he was really angry or conning me for another sandwich. Either way, he got what he wanted.