Grown-up snack time

There is a cherished tradition here chez Tropic of Mom: snack time.

I'm not talking about dumping out some Oreos presenting sliced fresh fruit on a plate for my son in the middle of the afternoon. No, this is grown-up snack time (GUST?).

Once my son is sweetly napping, it's time for me to relax with a little refreshment. I deserve it. After all, I most likely wasn't able to finish my lunch or eat enough -- most of the time, the Man-cub considers a meal over after about 3.7 minutes of standing on a chair and sticking his fingers in his food.

Grown-up snack time started way before he was born, though.

Somewhere between about 1:30 and 3:30, the after-lunch lull kicks in. Even when I was working in an office, you could tell others were affected by it. The overall volume in our suite would drop. People's heads would nod toward their desks. They would start yawning and stretching, which would make you want to yawn and stretch, too. There wasn't anything to look forward to other than going home, which was hours away. So, naturally, we would find ways to sneak food to our desks, which was forbidden.

This is what our culture gets for not having a siesta, if you ask me.

When my son came along, though, about the only time I could eat was when he was sleeping. It became almost automatic: put baby down, open the fridge, scavenge for food, eat as quickly as possible, hear baby crying, wipe mouth with arm napkin.

Now that my son is two, though, I can usually (universe, please note: writing this down is not an invitation to mess with things and jinx it, 'K?) count on an afternoon nap. And I can go back to grown-up snack time.

Having some protein is good. Cottage cheese, rolled-up deli meat, peanut butter, a hard-boiled egg, a lobster tail, whatever. (Can anyone tell me why they can't inject protein into potato chips? There are protein shakes, protein granola bars, protein cereal and even protein water. The market for protein chips is wide open.)

Too often, though, I end up carrying a container of cookies or crackers into the office to munch and blog. This way, there's no danger of waking up my son with the cookie container rattling while I open it to take out a few. You believe me, right? Today, though, I am eating just one (really big) cookie and having some iced decaf coffee.

There's also leftover pizza (the small slices nobody wants to eat at dinner), fruit and -- rarely -- baby carrots. I'm not sure that carrots are conducive to blogging, though. They just add fiber.

So I guess it's true: Nap time really is the new happy hour.

Do you snack and blog?

Now excuse me while I finish my cookie....