The Raspberry Conspiracy

Mealtime is always a challenge.


I've spoken before about Kiernan's tastes. What I did not know at the time was how rapidly they would develop. Indeed, what I could not have known was how much they would morph, not only over time...but from meal to meal. For awhile he refused steamed carrots, for example. Then one day--DING!--he gobbled them down. The next day...nope.

At his last checkup, his pediatrician assured me this was normal. I brought up concern about his appetite, and he basically said, "Don't worry. When he's hungry, he'll eat." Then he capped this off with, "If we all ate like toddlers, there'd be no obesity in America."

I was a little uncomfortable with the way he pointedly looked at my mid-section when he said this, but I tried to put that out of my mind.

Tonight was a good night for eating, though. He downed all of his mushroom turnovers (from Trader Joe's--best store on the planet). He ate a little bit of corn. Chewed on a bit of cucumber.

I wanted more vegetable action though, so I brought out a carrot. Kiernan has forsaken steamed carrots of late, so I just presented a raw, freshly peeled, carrot.

No interest.

So I started eating it.

Interest.

It was a great game. I'd take a few nibbles and he'd grab it from my mouth and take a couple of bites. Then I'd reclaim it and he would say, as he is recently wont to say..."Kiernan turn." We're trying to teach him the concepts of sharing and taking turns. So far he fully understands when it's "Kiernan's turn." It's a simple concept, though, since "Kiernan's turn" is apparently happening all the time.

We ate most of the carrot and moved on to dessert, which was, tonight, raspberries. He loves berries. Blueberries. Raspberries. Strawberries. His hand-sign for "berry" is perfect. It was, in fact, one of the first signs I remember him translating without any sort of cue. We could say, "Kiernan, what's the sign for 'berry'?" He would do it without hesitation. Or we'd do the sign, saying nothing out loud, and he would say his approximation of the word "berry." It's shocking how quickly he has learned the signs and words for the things he really wants.

The way he picked up the sign for "ice cream" leaps to mind.

I took to washing and cutting up the raspberries. At one point, I dropped one of them. It simply disappeared. I looked all over the floor. Under the cabinet ledge. In the cat's bowl. It was just gone. I even checked my earlobe, to no avail.

Then Kiernan smiled and pointed at the little drawer where we keep the scissors and twist-ties and rubber bands.

We had a huge laugh...then it was off to the bath.