Sushi Dreams

When I was eating at a Japanese restaurant while pregnant with H, a miracle was witnessed. Or at least I thought it was a miracle. I watched a pair of women with their sons enjoying a meal. It seemed as thought the women were good friends who made a habit out of dinner at this particular place. As dinner arrived the 3ish year old boy bounced in his seat eagerly. I noticed there was nothing on the delivered plates but sushi. Soy sauce was poured and rolls were portioned. While the other child took a lesson in chopsticks from his mother, the second boy dove into his meal fingers first.

I watched him eat with the kind of ferocity usually reserved for something smothered in chocolate. He picked up a roll and dipped it in his sauce and the kind of fell apart. Picking up each part he devoured it stopping only at the seaweed inner wrapping. "Mommy?" he asked pensively, "What's that?" She looked over and replied, "It's seaweed, Babe." The boy peered more closely at the specimen and asked, "Is it always in there?" "Yep.", she replied. The boy took one last look, shrugged his shoulders, and tossed it in his mouth.

I. Was. Speechless. I immediately began dreaming that someday I would have a child that would emulate the previous situation. Tonight, we went to the local grocery where a Flintstone-style car is attached to your shopping cart is the norm. We grabbed a few cartons of ready-made sushi for a quick dinner. The moment H noticed what had just been put in, she turned in her seat poking her fingers through the holes in the cart trying her best to get to our sushi. She whined until we got home and the moment her foot touched down inside the house she went straight to her high chair. She waited while we doled out the rolls and as soon as one was presented to her she scooped it into her mouth. Her immediate reaction was, "Mmmmmm." and a rice filled smile. My two year old ate eight pieces and didn't require any encouragement to do so. Dreams really do come true.

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