From the food files

1. The video below embodies the gastronomic temperaments of our two daughters. In fact, the opening image almost says it all:

Alice will try almost any food once--and rarely objects to a second spoonful. Edith would live on Colby Jack cheese and bread and butter if we'd let her--or preferably, not eat at all. This particular evening we were eating black beans and rice, one of Alice's favorites, and when she saw Edith refusing her plate, she picked up a fork and tried airplane to get her big sister to eat. I don't think Alice has ever had airplane done for her, mind you, but she has seen it done now and then for Edith.

2. In other news, Alice now has a four-syllable word:

"Dagodado"

3. There's a line I especially like in the parenting book, The Blessing of a Skinned Knee. In its chapter on teaching children to honor their parents (a.k.a. on the value of "Because I said so") is a sentence on the subject of kids wheedling to get what they want: "Parents get fooled because their kids are such skilled debaters, but children are not psychologically equipped to handle winning those debates" (70). That's nothing I don't intuitively know, but I've found that line helpful as a way of reminding myself that just because Edith can sound so persuasive in explaining why she really wants something, those skills shouldn't fool me into thinking she really has weighed in the balance the consequences of skipping dinner or listening to another half hour's worth of stories and made an informed request.

Now we have a paraphrase of that sentence applicable to Alice: "Parents get fooled because their kids are such enthusiastic consumers of sushi and pickled ginger, but toddler stomachs are not gastrointestinally equipped to handle digesting those substances."

As you might discover some evening at 9:45pm...and 10:15...and 10:30...and so on to midnight...and again the next morning.