A kleptomaniac in training

Dear business owner, let me say I’m sorry in advance. It’s not my intention for Ladybug to steal from you. It’s just she has a case of sticky fingers.

This weekend, it was a Reebok baseball cap. She must have pulled it off the shelf and tucked it in her stroller as my husband was trying on hats.

I caught that one before we left the store. And I’ve managed to notice the stuffed animals and board books that she tucks on the side as I push her through toy store aisles.

But a host of local restaurants aren’t as lucky, as a colleague noted the other day as he passed by my desk.

“What a pathetic-looking fork,” he said of the bent silverware propped against my salad bowl.

“IHOP,” I replied.

At least a half-dozen equally pathetic-looking forks and spoons were at home, their origins unknown.

A few more of these and I’ll have enough for a six-place setting.