Food Shenanagans

One of the greatest pleasures of a parent has got to be the indescribable combination of children and food. My first experience with this combo happened observing toddlers eat crackers. I can not STAND it when they eat them sideways. I don't care if it is a graham, a ritz or a saltine-don't eat it sideways. It is like I can feel the cracker wedging itself between my two front teeth. Bring out the floss (could just be me because I am a well-known flosser)-it really just freaks me out. I am getting the shiveys right now just talking about it. My current pet-peeve with the combo just so happens to be the stage that Ed is at right now. He is at that stage where for whatever reason, he has to eat his ice-cream cones upside down. Okay, it isn't fair to single Ed out because Maya and Lucy are guilty of the same offence. What is maddening about Ed is that he doesn't have the sense to suck out the "ice-cream juice" that comes eaking out of the hole, nor does he have the sense that the top part of the cone does not defy gravity. He is messy messy. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of these atrocities occuring, but I do have the following.

Lucy decided to thread about a gazillion peas onto each prong of her fork. It took awhile but she was pleased with the results.Because Lucy did it, Maya also had to do it. Maya was ecstatic with her results.
and a then there's Ed.

Ed actually did this little move the day prior to the girl's shenanigans. I went to get his lotion and he went for the gold. I couldn't resist.

I know these images can be hard to look at but I felt they needed to be posted. Not just for the amusement of grandparents, or for other parents to relate (I hope) but to post something typical. There are the times that the girls to get growled at for playing with their food or eating with their hands, but then there are times that I feel the need to let them have fun. Mark was at youth night, and I took this was one of those times to just let them be. In the end they were having fun, they weren't harming anyone else, and the peas were eaten. It is times like these where I am able to sit back and just be with my children and to enjoy having a family, being a part of something pretty special. As a little end-note, Ed also had fun with his peas, he figured out that he could just fit them through the mouth spout of his sippy-cup. Hey, I think it went a long way to helping his hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.