Water You Talking About??

I hate to admit that my kids are hooked on juice boxes. I've tried to maintain a strict (some days not so much) policy of one per day, but it's not always as easy as it sounds. Some days Evil Mom comes out and stands her ground, and on other days she's out shopping or something, and second and sometimes third juice boxes get handed out (I'd love to say that I really was away shopping and it was someone else who gave them the JB's, but....) You get the picture.

"Why don't you guys have some water?" (this is me, in last ditch effort mode)

"Whaaaat??? NO!!! We want juice boxes!!" (fyi - they're VERY LOUD)

I have, many times, attempted to give them watered-down juice in cups: big kid cups with no lids, take and toss cups with lids, sippy cups, lidless cups with straws (bubble mess waiting to happen), and any other imaginable vessel that could possibly contain juice.

Yesterday my five year old brought me her plastic tea pot and said "Mommy, can you put orange juice in this for me?"

"Oh my goodness no, I am NOT letting you put juice in a toy..." (screeech) wait a second... she didn't ask for a juice box. I could water down the juice... Hmmm. What to do. Might I even consider this?

"No, honey, I'm sorry. If you're going to be pouring ANYTHING with your tea pot it can only be water."

"Ohhh okaaaay" she sighs, like someone has asked her to do ten pages of Algebra homework (that's coming one day I'm sure... maybe second grade?). I take the teapot, fill it with water, and present it to her and her three year old brother. They gleefully rush off to the living room with it, where they create a tea party on the coffee table. Awhile later they're back for more.

"Mommy we need more water." When I asked them what happened to the water I'd given them, I couldn't believe my ears:

"We drank it!!!"