Love at First Bite

Lola lights me up from within. Her chubby-cheeked, crinkly-eyed, beaming grin makes me smile all over. I often find myself simply gazing at her in glee, topping up some unseen internal happiness reservoir with pure delight at her delicious babyness.

She is by no definition a fragile or delicate little girl - at 15 months she stands a few centimetres taller than her sister did at the same age, and is about the size of the average 2 year old. She pounds around on her sturdy frame with focussed haste, often ricocheting off furniture and walls as she jostles through the house, determined not to be left out of anything. With arms held backwards she propels herself around at top speed; her verandah like poddy tummy acting as no major impediment to this streamlining effect.

Lola alternates between being my shadow, following me around with arms raised saying "up, up, up", and trailing her sister like Mary's lamb. She wants to do everything Eva does -she'll sit beside her at the table, banging a crayon on paper while Eva draws, or climb up into the reading chair with a book, just as she has watched her big sister do. Of course she can't join in with many of Eva's big-girl pursuits, such as jigsaw puzzles, complicated block castles or making crocodiles from egg cartons and after being turned away (by means of not so gentle squeezes and cries of "oh noooo! you nasty cheeky baby!" from Eva), will proceed to throw wobbly fits and deliver parting shots at Eva or her toys with her chubby open palms.

Like her mother, Lola is passionate about food. Questions such as "are you hungry Lola?" or "would you like a banana?" are greeted with a great deal of lip smacking, ''nom, nom, nom" sound effects and a brisk toddle to the kitchen where she proceeds to open cupboards or pull ambitiously on the fridge door in her quest for nourishment. At the very sound of the utensil drawer being opened or a plate being laid on the table she will reach for the doorknob chanting "door, door, door!" in a frantic attempt to get into the kitchen.  She'll then bustle busily past me to the cupboard where she pulls out a bowl then clambers up to the table in eager anticipation of a meal. 

I take great pleasure in cooking for my family and love nothing more than to see the girls get excited about food. Lola's reaction particularly warms my nurturing mummy heart when she gasps with joy, complete with a look of  appreciative surprise at whatever is placed in front of her. Although we are attempting to school our daughters in the finer points of table etiquette, I must admit to taking a gleeful pride in watching Lola abandon her spoon in favour of shoveling the food in by the handful then licking the bowl clean. We have dubbed her the seagull as she will often swoop in and take off with Eva's toast crusts or pilfer her sister's morning tea out from under her very nose. 

Eva is already a great help when I'm cooking, enjoying being my "little chef" in training, I can only imagine that Lola's appetite will make her an equally enthusiastic helper. I look forward to many happy occasions spent in the kitchen, cooking and feasting with my girls and relating endearing tales of a ravenous little gobble guts who fell in love with food at first bite.