hashi obsession

Watching us use chopsticks at meal time most days, TJOML seems to have developed a great obsession for them. She likes to grab our chopsticks away from us to try and stab her veggies with them. So, we bought her smaller, blunter, plastic chopsticks to do as she wishes at meal time.

Many an evening, D and I have been treated to some home-grown entertainment: She carefully picks up a string of soba in one hand, holds a chopstick in the other, drapes the soba over her chopstick and tries to take it to her mouth. Which of course involves tilting the chopstick a little, thereby allowing the soba to slide down and away from her mouth. She screams at the soba in frustration, picks it up again, carefully drapes it on her chopstick and so ad infinitum.

So far, anything we didn't want her to play with because it is either not safe for her, or is something she might damage, we have been stating very clearly, "Not a Toy" and taking it away from her. So much so that, she tries to test her limits these days, and on her own, when she tries to sneak the candle lighter away from right under our noses, she declares, with a twinkle in her eye, "naa tha thoi" and willingly hands over the contraband item.

Tonight, at dinner, I served her some rice in a bowl, and some vegetables on a plate. As has become the norm, I set a spoon and a pair of chopsticks for her to help herself.

D helped her grab a broccoli floret with her chopsticks. Very daintily, with knuckles turning white gripping the chopsticks tight, she managed to successfully get the broccoli into her mouth!

Anyway, it was taking forever for her to get even the tiniest morsel into her mouth on her own, understandably. I wanted to speed things up, so, I started scooping some rice in her spoon intending to feed her.

She looked at me with a serious expression, making it clear she did not want me to mess with her food, firmly stated, "Amma, naa tha thoi", and took the spoon away from me!!

I just burst out laughing. D and I couldn't control our laughs for a good few minutes during which time, TJOML simply dismissed us as a pair of lunatics and continued her attempt to pick up her green beans with the chopsticks held together...