Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Lemon

I just finished 10 days of a pretty strict detox-style diet. Lots of water and fiber and veggies but no dairy or wheat products. I was happy with the results (a slimmer and more energetic Karen) but was desperately craving some "real" food. Sooooo I treated myself to one cheat meal before getting back on the healthy eating horse. For those of you that know me, you know I take my food very seriously. Choosing 1 meal of indulgence was difficult but I ended up selecting one of my favorite Mexican restaurants for some delicious quesadillas.

It was nice to relax and enjoy a dinner out with Myers and Owen. Owen was in good spirits and was entertaining us with his antics. The restaurant gave him a kids menu complete with crayons. We let him draw on the back of the paper but it was really more of a stabbing motion with the crayon rather than the smooth strokes of Picasso. At the wee age of 14 months he still has time to come into his own as an artiste.

Toward the end of the dinner, Owen noticed the lemon on the side of my water glass. He started pointing at it and letting me know with his limited communication skills(mostly hand signals and grunts) that he wanted the lemon. At this point, we as parents had several options.
a. Ignore him
b. Distract him with other food or toys or choreographed dances
c. Calmly explain to him that the acidic content of the lemon would do a real number on his budding tooth enamel
d. Throw the lemon onto another table so that he can no longer see it

or....you can do what we did...and let him bite the lemon.

My mother thinks it is cruel to let a baby bite a lemon. You may agree with that. Be it cruel or not, it sure is funny to see the reaction. Owen took a bite and after about 3 Mississippis, his face scrunched up tight and a shock wave went from head to toe. Then, he opened his eyes, smiled, laughed and opened his mouth for another bite.


2 comments:

Laura said...

1. Way to go on the success of your detox diet! I might need the menu for that in approximately 3 months :)
2. Please give Owen a lemon to bite again...but with a camera handy. I NEED to see this reaction.
3. I forget what you look like, I haven't seen in you ages. That makes me sad.

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Um, you look great lady.

My nephews LOVED lemons when they were babies. I've heard terrible things about what it does to the teeth (I used to be a lemon eater in my teens), but seems kids just really love em!