Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Where'sa Soup Go?

I'm still a little nervous about Abby and utensils, despite her recent victory in proving a rather astonishing facility with a spork while eating chicken pot pie. I try to remember to provide her with a spoon or spork at every meal, but most nights she will simply play around with it for a bit before tossing it aside and digging in with her fingers. I've realized that this is because non-sticky things like vegetables or pieces of chicken don't stay on the spork as easily as a nice, gooey dollop of chicken pot pie might do, which makes using a utensil a barrier to her success rather than a useful tool.

However, even more so than chicken pot pie, soup must be eaten with a spoon. And dinner tonight was potato leek soup. Not wishing just yet to experiment with the combination of Abby, her own bowl and spoon, and soup, which could potentially end in soup on the walls, ceiling, and floor, I made Abby a plate of macaroni and cheese. She ate the macaroni happily, until she saw the soup. But she was not content to take bites out of Tom's bowl. Not this night.

And so it was that she was granted her own bowl and spoon, and did amazingly. But after Abby had finished her third or fourth mini-serving, she stared down into the depths of her empty bowl, and the questioning began: "Where'sa soup go?"

She must have asked that same thing over thirty times during the course of dinner, each time resulting in a slightly different interplay between Abby and Tom, or Abby and me. But here are some highlights:

"Where'sa soup go?"

"You ate it. It's all gone."

"Where'sa soup go?"

"In your tummy."

"Where'sa soup go?"

"Where do you think it went, Abby?"

"On the floor?" Looks around below her chair.

"Abigail! We don't put food on the floor, remember?"

"Where'sa soup go?"

"Into your belly."

Stares confusedly at her shirt.

"Inside your belly, Abby. See? Like the water is inside of this cup."

"Inside the neck!"

"Yes! Exactly! Down inside your neck, and into your tummy."

Success! Question adequately answered, right?

"Where'sa soup go?"

{sigh}

The best part? If I know anything about about toddlers, I know the "Questioning Phase" is just beginning...