mumbling thru morsels

At the dinner table.

Smaller conversations between silences as each of us dig into mamidikaya pappu (Mango daal) and rice with a raw plantain fry. Munchkin’s sitting across me and is pushing her rice all around the bowl. I tell her twice to hurry up, or we’d all be done and she’d still be sitting and mostly, alone.

She makes a huge drama out of eating quick, but the morsels are going nowhere.

Husband, daughter and I are talking about a school event, when suddenly we hear munchkin in a very serious tone and oblivious to all around her, is looking intently at her bowl and talking thus:

You. You just sit here. In the corner. On the top here” She digs up a fairly large mango piece and places it firmly on the rim. She then pushes her pudgy fingers into the rice and exclaims

Oh no, you again? You come here. You the baby. Go sit with your mommy. Right here. Yes. next to her, and don’t move!

Her eyes rolled and her face determined, she continues to pull out every imaginable small mashed piece of mango that her fingers can feel and places them next to the grand thick slice.

Along with the pieces, a fair amount of rice has found its way to the rim.

Feeling accomplished, she now looks at me with glee and says “Look Mommy, this is a family of mukkas.” (mukka = pieces in telugu) Then making her eyes go rounder, she smiles impishly and challenges me “Want to race? I can beat ya?!”

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15 replies on “mumbling thru morsels”
    1. says: rads

      lol, I laugh with her. 🙂
      Then of course, if she continues with that mood, I get her a glass of milk and send her packing to bed.

  1. says: Aleta

    Kids are so adorable and filled with imagination. You have to wonder at what age do we lose the ability to be so creative? Great post!

    1. says: rads

      Heh, they truly are. It’s sad we lose it as we age. I am still hoping I can hold onto a bit of me from then tho’..

      Thanks for dropping in! 🙂

    1. says: rads

      Yeah, it’s a standard Andhra dish. Quite tasty and you must try it 🙂

      Thankfully no more bus incidents, though she more than makes up for it in other ways. 🙂

  2. says: maggie

    ha ha ha…such a sweety!…Next time tell her that the mangos need some adventure and love to travel down to ‘munchkin belly’!…ha ha…their favorite place in the world!

  3. says: My3

    Sigh!! The travails of a mother :-). I think with my older kid I was most particular about his eating the correct triangle(vegetarian). By the time the second one came along and did not want to eat something, well, it was fine with me. One glass of milk or yogurt and everybody is happy! They would make it up nutritionally in the next meal 😉

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