Almost As Tasty As Kermit

Every week I get an email from some baby development web site. This newsletter is really good at pointing out what a crummy parent you are if you haven't enhanced your child's life by allowing him to roll around naked in felt or listen to the cry of wild cicadas at dusk.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was preparing to snack on an orange, I was thinking about this email. I had Sarah in her bouncy chair, and I decided to enrich her afternoon by allowing her to watch me eat some fruit. Surely, this would put her one neuron closer to a Harvard education. So, I sat down in front of her and peeled an orange. Occasionally, I'd stop and let her smell it. She didn't seem overly thrilled by this, but I persisted. I let her watch me break the orange into segments - narrating my every move. Then, I ate a few pieces. She was getting bored. So, I decided to dab just a bit of an orange wedge on her lip. I thought that the tart taste would startle her. I was completely unprepared for what actually happened. I put the fruit to her lips. Like lightening, she reached out, grabbed my fist, and stuffed the entire orange wedge completely into her mouth. I literally had to pry my hand and the fruit out of her mouth. She loved it! Throwing caution to the wind, I squeezed more juice into her mouth and let her enjoy her first taste of an orange. I'm sure next week I'll receive a newsletter detailing the dangers of giving your child citrus before they're able to spell piccolo (or is it picollo?).