We went food shopping yesterday at Detroit's Eastern Market. When we got home, we got busy putting the food away, and in the hubbub, Elena ate a few bites of food without asking. I caught her eventually, when she slid her hand in and pulled out another piece of... broccoli.
Yes, broccoli. Her surreptitious between-meal snack was little pieces of broccoli. I didn't say anything, of course, because (a) it's not a big deal, and (b) it's broccoli! Oh, no, my baby ruined her appetite by eating too much broccoli! Whatever shall I do?
Seriously, though, this illustrates an interesting approach Elena has to food, and to things in general: she's more interested in the process than in the final result. In this case, I don't think she was actually hungry, but the whole process of reaching in the bag and breaking off little florets (from broccoli she picked out at the market, I might add) was just irresistable.
(More after the break.)
We noticed this way back when we first met Elena, last April. We brought along some markers for her to color with. She'd pull a marker out of the box, pop the cap off, and very carefully make the tiniest dot on the piece of paper. Then she'd recap the marker, put it back in the box, and repeat with another color.
That's a process-oriented attitude: it's more fun to go through the process of unpacking a marker and getting ready to draw than to actually make a drawing. I think that's not unlike other kids who have more fun unwrapping a present than actually playing with it when it's unwrapped. Process.
Elena's a little better than that now with her drawing; with a little direction and some limitation on her pens or crayons she'll settle in to draw. But the process-oriented attitude is still there, and it shows in her food choices.
Her favorite food right now is corn on the cob. Part of the reason, I think, is the texture of the individual nuggets of fresh corn - not unlike caviar, actually. But a big part of the reason is process: she gets to help shuck the corn before cooking, and has to eat it off the cob after. Fun!
We're growing a small garden this year, and have been harvesting things for the past few months. Elena likes the notion of getting food from the garden. Ground cherries are another of her favorites - they have to be picked and peeled, and they're very much her size. But she likes eating almost any vegetable straight from the garden, to the point of kneeling down and biting off a piece of kale to eat.
I'm not sure if this love of process is an orphanage trait, or if it's just Elena. Certainly, where food is concerned, it's not unusual for orphanage kids to be immensely interested in the process of making food. They're used to food just showing up out of the blue (orphanages having centralized kitchens, right?) so the process of buying and preparing food is foreign to them. That sense of wonder in the realization that food comes from somewhere might be part of Elena's interest in gardening (and shopping). But Elena's love of process extends to more than just food, so I think she has a methodological streak that's all her own.
Yes, broccoli. Her surreptitious between-meal snack was little pieces of broccoli. I didn't say anything, of course, because (a) it's not a big deal, and (b) it's broccoli! Oh, no, my baby ruined her appetite by eating too much broccoli! Whatever shall I do?
Seriously, though, this illustrates an interesting approach Elena has to food, and to things in general: she's more interested in the process than in the final result. In this case, I don't think she was actually hungry, but the whole process of reaching in the bag and breaking off little florets (from broccoli she picked out at the market, I might add) was just irresistable.
(More after the break.)
We noticed this way back when we first met Elena, last April. We brought along some markers for her to color with. She'd pull a marker out of the box, pop the cap off, and very carefully make the tiniest dot on the piece of paper. Then she'd recap the marker, put it back in the box, and repeat with another color.
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| Elena draws; April 2011 |
Elena's a little better than that now with her drawing; with a little direction and some limitation on her pens or crayons she'll settle in to draw. But the process-oriented attitude is still there, and it shows in her food choices.
Her favorite food right now is corn on the cob. Part of the reason, I think, is the texture of the individual nuggets of fresh corn - not unlike caviar, actually. But a big part of the reason is process: she gets to help shuck the corn before cooking, and has to eat it off the cob after. Fun!
We're growing a small garden this year, and have been harvesting things for the past few months. Elena likes the notion of getting food from the garden. Ground cherries are another of her favorites - they have to be picked and peeled, and they're very much her size. But she likes eating almost any vegetable straight from the garden, to the point of kneeling down and biting off a piece of kale to eat.
I'm not sure if this love of process is an orphanage trait, or if it's just Elena. Certainly, where food is concerned, it's not unusual for orphanage kids to be immensely interested in the process of making food. They're used to food just showing up out of the blue (orphanages having centralized kitchens, right?) so the process of buying and preparing food is foreign to them. That sense of wonder in the realization that food comes from somewhere might be part of Elena's interest in gardening (and shopping). But Elena's love of process extends to more than just food, so I think she has a methodological streak that's all her own.
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