Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Cries for Ethiopian Food

I am not all that intuitive when it comes to things my kids need. For example, I had/have an ear infection. I decided to take Zeke with me to get my ear checked out. He seemed a little crabby, more because his life has been turned upsidedown than that there was something physically wrong. Diagnosis: me--one ear infection; Zeke--double ear infection. That's a story that could be retold in many different ways all with the same conclusion: I am often clueless.

However, Lizzie showed a thriving capacity to burst through my Huh? What? Really? Syndrome. We had pasta with a can of tomatoes added. After 10 minutes of trying to eat the pasta, she started digging through the noodles, joyfully exclaiming in 2 year old Amharic, that she'd found a tomato piece. Then she'd grasp it with the 3 Finger&Thumb Grip, shove it in her mouth and look for more. "Looks like she misses Ethiopian food," I thought astutely. Called my friend who can make Ethiopian food taste like Ethiopian food even though she uses roughly half of the oil and onions that the recipe calls for.

Today, my husband brought home containers of three different dishes. Lizzie stared at me. She tore apart the bread as I had seen her do in Ethiopia. She dipped it. She scooped it. She ate and ate and ate. She ate some for a snack. She ate more for supper. We ran out of Ethiopian bread (injera) so she ate with little pieces of Target Sandwich Bread.

Good to know that all it takes to get the message across is digging through a bowl of pasta with one's fingers. I wonder how she'll tell me she has an ear infection.

No comments:

Post a Comment