chewing

on everything. She is so proud of her one little tooth and the tiniest beginnings of her soon-to-be-showing second tooth that she tries it (them) out on every single thing she touches. Dirty shoes? Check. Dirty socks? Check. Leaf from patio? In it goes. Worm? You betcha, baby. It all goes into her mouth and onto her tooth.

Everything, that is, except carrots, spinach, apricots and green beans.

Yeah, you read that sentence correctly. She chewed a worm. A big, brown, squishy, slug-like, wormy caterpillar that made its way in one day during the spring worm storm that showered our home and yard with an incredible variety of creepy crawlies for two weeks time. Not only did the smallest person in our home manage to find the smallest creature in our home, but once she found it, she also refused to release it, holding it in an increasingly tighter grip as her mother, weak from the shock and horror of finding her baby with a worm in her mouth, tried frantically to free it from her tiny fist.

At the end of the event, the worm was captured in a baggie for identification by the resident bug expert upon his arrival home, and the Isla was extremely unhappy with the mother who took her new favorite food and toy away. Big sister probably had the worst of the deal and appeared shell-shocked herself after witnessing her mother's screams and the ensuing tug of war with her baby sister.

Some people might call this less than stellar parenting. Here at chez-baby-pants, we call it protein.