Gone Fishing

For my tenth birthday I decided that I really wanted lobster.  I'd never tried it before, but it seemed really grown up, and after-all I was in the double-digits then and it was time to show everyone how mature and cultured I was - clearly.  My parents fulfilled my birthday wish and took us to a chain restaurant designed for, "the seafood lover in you".  I promptly ordered an entire lobster and was presented with a giant lobster, complete with buggy eyes and antenae.  I sheepishly took one bite of the giant alien bug from the sea, decided I hated it, but was old enough to understand that my parents were going to be spending a lot of money on my one bite experiment.   My father generously offered to trade the hamburger that he'd ordered for my lobster.   Gee, I wonder if he had suspected that this would happen?   As an adult I love lobster, surf and turf is one of my absolute favorite things, however I don't remember the moment when the change from hate to mouth watering love occurred.

This weekend a group of us went out to a beer tasting and dinner with a friend who is in town from the UK.  After beer, but before dinner, I sent a text to our sitter L asking her how things were going.  I didn't want, or expect the reply I'd get, something along the lines of.  L: I moved your Diaper Genie.  X decided that they wanted a mid-nap snack, pried open the Genie from their crib and secured themselves a dirty wipe to munch on.  They were quite smiley and pleased with themselves*  BTW where are your spare crib sheets - Poo everywhere!**

I can't honestly say that I wasn't guilty of similar grossness when I was a child, so maybe it runs in the family. As a toddler I routinely ate potted plants, dirt and sand from the sand box.***  As a young child Chris locked himself in a closet and ate all of his sister's Easy Bake Oven Cake mix raw.  His mother found him covered in white powder, looking like Pacino in the infamous Scarface coke scene, with a giant sh%t eating grin on his face - a funny story, but a little vanilla compared to some of my grosser antics.

This is me on Easter in 1979 (If that isn't obvious enough by my stylish shirt and bangs) enjoying a giant chocolate Mickey Mouse.

When I was a toddler my parents had a giant fish tank in the basement that was full of guppies.  One evening at a family get together my aunt sat down on a bench across from the fish tank.  She set her hand down beside her onto something cold, wet and slimy.  On the bench she discovered a dead, headless fish and upon further investigation my parents found several other headless guppies on the floor behind the tank. Apparently I'd developed a penchant for fishing and sushi, two things that I still love today. Completely unrelated two fish died in our tank this weekend****. 

Apparently this type of exploration, albeit gross is a normal part of development.  Does this mean that X will like mushrooms and other food that is grown in feces as they get older, just like I enjoy sushi?  I don't know. 

*Chris wants me to stop telling this story because it's gross and he thinks it's going to become really embarrassing for our children as they get older.  This is why I have taken off the name indicator, all anyone (who I haven't already told this story to) will ever know is that one of our children liked to eat poo when they were ten and a half months old.

**X is fine, thankfully.  L gets a gold star for being a good sport and taking care of sh$t - literally.  

***Because of these stories I was afraid that I would develop Pica during pregnancy, luckily I did not.  Definition of Pica: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)

****We suspect Ick, and no I did not bite their heads off.