Several times I have mentioned Kate’s arranging her food, plate, and utensils in what I have called “Food Art.” This morning at breakfast she created something and then played with it.
I fixed her blueberries and cheese toast which is rapidly becoming the replacement of blueberry muffins she used to get almost every morning at Panera. I serve her blueberries first while I prepare the cheese toast which I cut into one-inch squares. As I was getting a cup of coffee, she laughed and called me to the table.
She pointed to one specific piece of cheese toast. I didn’t see anything unusual, but it was obvious that she did. I said, “That’s something.” That worked. She laughed. It was clear that she saw something funny, and I laughed as well. Then she moved the piece closer to two other pieces near the center of the plate. As she did, she said, “Now he’s going over here.”
In the process, I discovered that she had already arranged the few remaining blueberries, pieces of cheese toast, and the seeds that had fallen off the toast itself. That was her work of art. Then she began to move all of them around as though she were playing a game. She did it slowly, but she was enthusiastic about what she was doing and very proud of herself. At one point, she popped a blueberry into her mouth and called my attention to it as it sat on her tongue just like a small child might done with her parents. She was having a ball, and I have to admit to enjoying watching her. She was happy.
