There are different types of eaters. There’s the eater that picks gently at the food on her plate, pushing the peas around not really getting much to her mouth. There’s the eater that will only eat foods that are familiar, unwilling to try new tastes or textures. There’s the fine eater that knows good food and will only eat the best, forgetting hotdogs and nachos, opting for caviar and foie gras. There’s the eater that can best be described as a pig, chowing and gulping, snorting and grabbing.
At the mere age of six months, Zoe is becoming quite an eater. Only knowing the flavors of rice cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, and green beans, it is very obvious to us that Zoe is a food lover, a somewhat obnoxious food lover. There is not a parcel of food that has come to Zoe’s lips that she has not shown pure excitement over. Each meal brings chowing, gulping, snorting, and grabbing. As soon as she sees the spoon, she throws her entire body forward, mouth wide open, snorts and food flying out her nose, hoping to land her mouth on the spoon. She then grabs the spoon with her sticky fingers and wrestles the spoon away from her feeder, only to smear what’s left on it all over her already messy face. When asked if she likes the food, she smiles and giggles, with food oozing out from the corners of her lips. Then she is serious, clearing thinking that this is not a game and the most important thing right now is to get more food. She will reach for the bowl that has purposefully been placed just out of reach and give a slight pout when she realizes she can’t reach it. By that point another bite is usually on the way to her mouth and she’ll lunge forward again, beginning the process over. It is messy, but terribly fun.
