Remember that scene from Ratatouille where the main character,
Remy tries to teach his brother, Emile, about food? Remy gives Emile a piece of
cheese and tells him to think about the flavors, then he gives him a strawberry and tells him to think about the combination of flavors. Emile has a something of a mild epiphany before losing it. He is just as happy eating trash. Sometimes I wonder what is going through our kids' heads when they are eating food. I had a little instructional moment the other day with Little I. He was pointing to our salt container on the stove, clearly trying to communicate to me that he had noticed it and was interested in it. So I took the container down, pulled out a couple of grains of salt, and we tried the salt. Little I was somewhat interested when I told him it was salty. Next, I took a
couple grains of sugar down and let him conduct the same experiment. This time I explained that the sugar was sweet. We went back to the salt and I told him it was salty. Well, of course, he just wanted to keep trying the sugar after that.
What really cracked me up was when Little I decided to combine his chili with his yogurt. I envisioned a gourmand critiquing the dish like this:
"The kudzu honey does well to sweeten the tart creamy yogurt. I'm getting a little something else in here too, like cumin, and oh, what's this, a kidney bean?!? What a bold statement! So simple, so fresh! It brings me back to my days as a child when I used to put beans in my yogurt . . ."
You get the idea. I had to take a picture.
The truth is, Little I is becoming quite the cook. He has helped Mom E make a few dishes such as Aromatic Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Cut-Out Cookies, and most recently, Cranberry Chocolate Oat Bars. In fact, it was at Little I's insistance that Mom E pulled out the ingredients to make the Oat Bars. He wanted to cook! It was funny watching him add the chocolate chips. He seemed torn about dumping an entire cup full of chocolate chips into the dough. With a little probing, Mom E was able to help him do it; but he refused to sprinkle any on top once the dish was done. Those delectable morsels just don't get sprinkled on top of food--they go directly into the mouth!
Mr. C's pallette has expanded as well. He has now graduated to sampling rice cereal, squash, and sweet potato puree (see picture above). Of course, that is when he is not munching on his toes, his toys, his sleeve, or my shoulder. More than Little I did, Mr. C loves to put things in his mouth. He has acquired quite a grasp and has excellent coordination (for a 5.5 month-old). Also unklike Little I, Mr. C is verrry interested in touching, feeling, and interacting with things placed in front of him. He is very hands-on. Litte I was more "hands-off." Perhaps Mr. C's favorite "item" to interact with is his big brother. His face lights up any time Little I comes around and he doesn't mind a bit if Little I pushes on him, lays on him, or climbs over him. My parting shot is my little chef and gourmand tussling on their chairs.
Notice the fuzzy head and no teeth. Obviously, Mr. C will get hair and teeth when he is good and ready. Right now, both are slowly coming in. His favorite thing to do is to smile at people. Usually big brother is his favorite, but he'll find other people to randomly smile at, including other babies at church, which is fun to watch. Mr. C can sit up quite well, though he usually ends up toppling over after a few minutes. He loves to grasp and pull, as previously reported, and will laugh and coo if you horseplay with him. He has a very pleasant disposition. Back when Little I was an infant, Mom E and I called him our little velociraptor. Mr. C is more like a big bear. He cuddles, he sleeps, he packs in the food. If only he'd start hibernating the whole night through...
