17 February, 2007

Eating a hot dog

Watching my daughter eat is not usually entertaining, but since I mentioned the other day that she adores hot dogs, I thought I would describe the show.

When presented with a hot dog, her eyes focus intently on it. She reaches out and slowly but deliberately wraps the fingers of her right hand around it, then draws it close for examination. With the tips of the fingers on her left hand, she picks at the end of the hot dog. Perhaps she's trying to tear pieces off it, the way she enjoys shredding paper towels, but she doesn't dwell on this very long, nor with much zeal.

No, she feels the urge to gorge herself. As the anticipation builds, her eyes widen and her muscles grow so tense that her hand begins to tremble. Finally, she can take no more—she pounces! and thrusts as much of the hot dog into her mouth as she can.

(Yup, she's my daughter. I like to fill my mouth, too. This means I usually finish my food more quickly than most people. When I was a teenager, a brother used to ask me how I could taste my food if I ate it so quickly.)

Once the hot dog is in her mouth, she gnaws at it and rolls her tongue around it. This is with her mouth half open, so we get to see the whole show. Before long, she bites off a piece—not always a manageable piece, sadly—and chews on it.

As she chews, she looks around the table, trying to make sense of all the appalled faces.

Ladies and gentlemen, we present the hot dog. It's not just a meal, it's an experience.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But please keep an eye on her when she's eating hot dogs. I think I told once that Maggie took too large a bite and started to choke. Without much thought I slapped her on the back and the chunk of hot dog went flying across the kitchen. She started crying because the dog (Mocha) took off with her food.

Hope all is going well,

Rob

jack perry said...

There are six eyes on her. My wife is feeding her, I'm terrified that either she will choke or the hot dog will fall to the ground (great entertainment for baby, who then wonders where it went and looks all around), and her brother is willing to look at anything that is not the food he's supposed to be putting in his mouth :-)

jack perry said...

Oh, we also have no intention of feeding her hot dogs often. "Disgusting American food," to quote Inspector Clouseau (as played by Steve Martin).