Let me tell you a story about ketchup:
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Ari. One Friday evening, Ari, his mom and his Aunt Mint went out for dinner at a restaurant called “Chat And Chew” in Union Square.
All was well at first. Ari’s mom was munching away at her quintessential macaroni and cheese and sweet potato fries and Mint was enjoying her shrimp and her own plate of sweet potato fries.
Ari’s mom set aside a portion of food for him on the sweet potato fry plate. Then something curious happened. Ari began to dip his fries in ketchup!
Ari had eaten french fries before, but had never been interested in ketchup.
Mint’s eyes widened and she exclaimed:
“He’s not eating the fries! He’s just licking the ketchup off of them and putting back on the plate!”
Ari’s eyes then began to widen. He grabbed a glass of water, screamed and poured it all over the table. Ari’s mom covered her eyes. She could not bear to watch. He stood up in the restaurant high chair waving his arms and yelled:
“Aaa eh! Aaa eeh! Aaa eeh!” His face was covered in ketchup.
The restaurant patrons stared and gawked as Ari began to spin out of control.
“You know, ketchup is made almost entirely of sugar?” Mint asked Ari’s mom.
“Well,” replied Ari’s mom “That explains it.”
So Mint and Ari’s mom cleaned up the restaurant table, apologized to the horrified waiter and went off into the night.
The moral of the story: keep your toddler away from ketchup.