A few things I learned about my child this weekend.

We knew our child loves baby crack (aka whipped topping with caramel swirls from a Starbucks frappuccino), but we didn't know to what extent.

We walked to our local Starbucks on Saturday while pushing Mateo in his car with icy, caffeine-filled frappuccinos dancing before our eyes. My husband not only had visions of a refreshing drink, but he wanted to load our child up with sugar.

"I'm going to ask if they'll give us a small cup filled with whipped topping, even if I have to pay!" he told me.

Ah, good idea, I thought. We've already screwed up Mateo's routine by taking him to Happy Hollow and eliminating a nice two hour nap from his day, now we're going to load him up on sugar.

When we got there, my husband asked if he could get a small cup of whipped topping with caramel on top. The girl didn't blink an eye and said, "sure."

When I was thinking small cup, I was thinking like a shot glass or something. Because who really consumes a "huge" small cup of whipped topping? But that's what we got. And the top was covered with caramel. No swirls here, no sirree.

Mateo sat in my lap while my husband used a straw to feed Mateo the whipped topping. After a bit, my husband thought it would be cute to teach him to dip his pacifier into the whipped topping so he could suck the topping off his pacifier. The things we are teaching are child, I tell you.

Mateo wasn't going for this plan, and when we weren't paying attention, he grabbed the straw. He then dipped the straw into the cup, got some whipped topping on it, and put the straw into his mouth. My husband and I sat dumbly watching him do this. Not only is it amazing that he took the initiative to administer his own baby crack, but he was actually doing a really good job of it.

This morning he started doing the other thing that he was taught but we thought he didn't learn - putting his pacifier in his yogurt and then putting the pacifier in his mouth. While this probably seemed like a great idea to him, especially since there weren't any straws around, it really just made a huge mess of him and his food tray.

The other things I learned about Mateo: He can say Elmo, he can stomp on command and he willingly tells his Daddy "bye" by waving when his Daddy is leaving the house or Mateo's room. I know, I know, not quite as spectacular as self-administering baby crack, but we take the little milestones when they come.