strangely silent

One afternoon I was busy slaving over a hot stove making lunch for our little amiga. Suddenly I noticed that the house was strangely silent. I stopped what I was doing and cocked my ear toward the front of the house. The little girl was not digging through one of the silverware drawers, leaving spatulas and whisks in her wake. Absent from the house was the sound of her voice, the banging, clanging, and crashing that usually accompanies her play in the next room. I waited... and still nothing. Like a ninja, I stealthfully padded toward the next room, afraid what I might find (or not find). And there she was...

Our little compadre had her hand stuffed in a box of mommy's rice crackers (could have been worse eh?). Her mouth was not stuffed to overflowing... she had just disabled the security features of the box (cardboard flap and rolled up silver bag) and had gotten ahold of her first cracker... had to let her keep it - that was a lot of hard work spoiled in an instant by ninja dad.