Hello Kitty, Goodbye Goldfish

Since when did Goldfish go out of style? I remember the first time Beenie had a Goldfish… we were on the tram at the Maryland Zoo one late summer evening in 2007. The girls were almost one year old at that point. My husband and I bumped into an old colleague of mine from the ad agency, and he was there, like us, at dusk with his two kids, just before the zoo closed for the evening. Those in the know, who have the very cheap zoo membership, can go just before it gets too late to go, during cranky time, and they’re not losing money because they already have a membership, so it is like it’s free. Anyhoo, his little girl was nibbling on Goldfish and Beenie, always wanting to be on top of what someone else is eating, gestured to the white paper package of Goldfish, cheddar flavor, I believe. The young lady generously shared with my Beenie, and that was that. She was obsessed after that first taste. Mimi, if you remember, used to become quite miserable upon ingestion of dairy products, even small ones, so we let her have one Goldfish and no more. Thank goodness that seems to be over with.

My question is: when did the love for the Goldfish go away? Maybe it was this past summer, after many visits to the zoo (we are about a five-seven minute drive from the Maryland Zoo, by the way, which is why we are always there in the summertime), after copious zip-lock baggies full of Goldfish, my girls grew weary of the little snacks. The death of a snack. It is always sad when an old standby snack loses favor with the toddler. Things you used to be able to count on in a hungry pinch no longer do the job. There is one bag left in the cupboard, top shelf, Original flavor. I will not open this package. I will let it sit up there for a few months till they forget about Goldfish. I will wait until it is warm outside again. Then will try again.

I should start a page in this 20/20 (thx Naptime Writing for the handle) focusing soley on snacks for toddlers, my toddlers. It is kind of, sometimes, all they eat. I will start a list immediately.