random emme.

i haven't done a great job of capturing the little everyday ek moments lately, so i'm going to try to be a little better about that.  the other day, when i got to school to pick her up, there were only about 5 kids left and they were all sitting outside, enjoying the first cherry tomatoes harvested from the warbler garden.  everyone had eaten theirs, including emme, with the exception of one little boy who was playing with his in a cup of water, and another who was just holding his.  as i walked up, e greeted me and then walked over, plucked the tomato out of the boy's hand, and bit into it.  of course, the teacher put a quick stop to that, took the remaining tomato away, and many tears ensued (from emme - the other little boy didn't care too much).  i had to fight every natural inclination so i would not laugh, and instead use the opportunity to talk about ownership and redirect emme back into her classroom to gather all of her things.  but really, i thought the whole exchange was hilarious.  i am fascinated by the 18 month-old concept of mine.  since we're operating with a limited vocabulary, the word "mine" is used to describe pretty much every thing.  e once climbed up on to the teachers' bench at school, stood up, gestured out to the playground at large, tapped her chest (the ASL sign for mine), and shouted MINE!  as if the whole world can belong to her, she just needs to claim it.  this is not my favorite thing, with my adult values imposed all over the situation, but i am amused and intrigued by the process by which children understand such concepts.  having read only a bit about development, it's crazy to think we've got at least 6-12 more months before the concept of sharing can begin to be internalized by children (and, if i can judge by my interactions in the world, a lifetime before the whole sharing thing is really the go-to state of affairs).  anyway...if nothing else, the cherry tomato incident was a funny way to discover how much my kid loves tomatoes (fresh ones only, please). 

lately, emme has also been very in to dipping.  this is indicated strongly with her love of guacamole.  she will help herself to a chip, dip a huge scoop of guac, eat all the guac off the chip, then return the chip for a second (and third, and so on) round of dip, or simply place the used chip back in to the bowl, where a fresh chip is then procured for the next dipping exercise.  clearly, she has not yet seen the seinfeld "double dipping" episode...we'll introduce that one when we start letting her watch tv. 

another dipping exercise happens when she eats cereal in the mornings.  i bought rice chex when i was considering getting our family off gluten (a short-lived effort...lasted probably 3 days).  well, i will continue to buy them because we all love them - way more than cheerios, which was our staple cereal before.  for breakfast usually once or twice a week, emme will have cereal and fruit.  i always give her the cereal dry, but she drinks milk from an open mouth cup, so she eats each piece of cereal individually by picking it up daintily, dipping it into her cup of milk, sucking the milk off of the chex, then crunching the cereal.  this process is a very fine science for her, one that makes breakfast last 20-30 minutes, but is so endearing.  this kid, i tell ya.