Of PBJ

Dinner tonight, for both children, was some of the vegetable curry that Julie and Ted had last night. (We have been giving Clara more and more "soft solids," as opposed to the jarred food, with which she seems sort of bored. Her teachers concurred and told us Clara can often be found foraging under the high chairs during meal times. Our Bird is growing up!) Clara took to it with gusto. Joe did not. He was quite amicable about it all, but requested a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was not forthcoming, so he made do with his grapes. Here at Raleigh House, Fans, PBJ is all. The. Rage. Our Hero requests it for all meals save breakfast. He will instruct Ted how to make it, and whether to cut the sandwich into "squares" (by which he means rectangles, a shape he knows but is oddly misapprehended in this context) or triangles (usually squares); this all from the perch of his stool (number 1, see previous post). PBJ comes with chips (unless it is the second PBJ of the day in which case it has come with peas), and a pickle. He picks that spear right up and crunches away.* Often, a second pickle is requested. (We all often take a second pickle if we are all--save Clara--dining on PBJ.) It is for these reasons that of late, we have been buying two loaves of bread each week, and always have a jar of pickles in reserve. We are waiting anxiously to see if Clara likes pickles.

*Special to Kate: We cannot wait for you to see this in action.