Cheerios

I love Cheerios.  I’ve mentioned before that Cheerios are my comfort food.  In fact, I usually have a box next to my bed so that I can have a little snack before I go to sleep.  Nothing makes me feel better than a handful of dry Cheerios, or a nice bowl of Cheerios with fresh, cold milk.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  And I’m adamant that the plain ones are the best.  As a kid I remember my mom trying to trick me by buying the generic Cheerios and putting them in the Cheerios box.  I knew the difference and asked her what the deal was.  We never had fake Cheerios in our house again.  Even when I was at my most broke (if that makes sense) I would splurge on REAL Cheerios.

Ella has inherited my love of plain Cheerios.  She eats them almost every morning for breakfast, she often has a bowl as a snack, and sometimes she’ll even eat them for dinner.  The girl loves her Cheerios.  And, like her mom, she prefers the plain ones.  I even bought the fruit kind onetime (like mini-Froot Loops) and she wouldn't touch them.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store where they had Cheerios on sale 2 boxes for $4.  This is a great price, so I went fully prepared to stock up.  Unfortunately, other moms got there before me and by the time I arrived the store was completely sold out of Cheerios.  Right next to the Cheerios were the generic brand, Toasty O’s, and they were on sale for $1.97.  I stared at the box for a solid 5 minutes trying to decide if Ella would eat them.  I even thought to myself, 'She had better eat all of these because I'm not touching those things.'  I'm an awesome mom like that.  In the end, I decided to take a shot and I bought the box of generic Cheerios.

This morning I offered Ella her standard breakfast.  She took one bite and knew that something was wrong.  From that point on she wouldn’t touch her cereal.  Finally I asked her to take a bite and she looked at me and said, “Mommy, these Cheerios are yucky.”

I buy a lot of generic food that tastes exactly the same as the name brand, but when it comes to Cheerios, Ella is proof that there is no substitution for the real thing.  I just hope I haven't tainted her love of Cheerios.

If anyone would like an almost full box of Toasty O's, let me know.