When news of a nationwide Eggo waffle shortage made the front page of Yahoo news, lots of people started in with jokes.

Not me.

This waffle shortage thing is very serious business.

VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS.

For as long as she has had teeth, Alexis has been eating frozen waffles for breakfast. Every. single. day. Not having waffles in our house is like not having oxygen. YOU JUST DON'T DO IT.

Over the years, I have experimented with replacing her preferred Eggo waffles with other brands. It has not gone well. When I tried the organic ones with Elmo's face on the box, Alexis spit them out and declared them, "Yucky."

"But they have Elmo on the box!" I told her. Obviously, if the fuzzy red monster endorses something, children everywhere should clamor to have it.

"Yucky," she replied.

"But . . . Elmo!" I insisted.

Alexis was only one year old at the time, but she responded to my "ELMO!" declarations with a giant eyeroll.

When I found another brand on sale, I tried being sneaky. When Alexis wasn't looking, I shoved the impostor waffles into an empty Eggo box. She knew the difference. Immediately. She refused to eat them.

I've tried homemade. They weren't good enough. I was forced to eat them all myself.

The kid takes the whole "Leggo my Eggo" thing very, very, very seriously.

So, Little Old Lady at Giant Eagle, I am very sorry that I nearly knocked you on your behind grabbing the last box of Eggos. I didn't mean you any harm. Really. I just like to keep my kid happy so that she won't yell at me at 6:00 in the morning. Besides, I did you a favor. Flooding isn't why there are no Eggos to be had, Listeria is.

You're welcome.