Lesson Learned

I bought some of these :


for the Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon I ran a few weeks ago. My kids love these little individualized Crystal Light packets to add to water. But I wasn't about to let them have any of these babies because drinking one is equivalent to drinking about 4 cokes- which is okay for a race but no so good for already energy-laden children like mine. I attempted to hide them in the back of my cupboard, but my kids can sniff out anything that is off-limits... Annie especially. (Although I have found one food hiding place that no one has yet to find. It's pretty good, so it may take awhile to be discovered.)
Anyway Annie asked several times if she could have one of my Crystal Light Energy packets with no success. So the other night while I was at my class she hit up Mr. "Sure, whatever, have what you want"- aka- Eric. And in Eric's defense he didn't know they had so much caffeine and I can guarantee Annie didn't say anything about that fact. She probably just casually asked, "Dad, can I have one of the crystal light packets in the cupboard?"
Well the minute I walked in from my class I could sense something was amiss. Annie was standing in the front of the TV cheering extremely loudly, "GO, RULON GO!" She was watching "Biggest Loser" and there was some competition with the contestants. She was jumping up and down wildly like it was a horserace. Annie is an excitable child anyway, but this was over the top for her. I sat down with my dinner to watch the show with her and she kept coming up in my face and saying things. I think Eric told her 5 times in 10 minutes some version of "Settle down" or "Quit freakin' out." I wondered what was going on with her when I saw the almost empty bottle of pink tinged water and all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
I asked Eric, "Did you let Annie have a Crystal Light?"
Eric: "Yeah, why?"
Me: "Cause that is like drinking 4 Diet Cokes. I bought them for my race, but I tried to hide them in the cupboard."
Eric: "Uhhh... you might want to find a better hiding place."