Breakfast Blues

Friday morning, while Neil was at work, Sophie, my parents and I went to the local diner for some breakfast. Sophie was in great spirits, smiling, laughing and being extremely playful. Patrons at other tables, as well as all passing servers, smiled and waved at her while she hammed it up. Loving the attention she was getting almost as much as she was, I smiled and chatted up my parents while we enjoyed our breakfast.

In the last few weeks, Sophie has begun to be more adventurous when it comes to table food. She will try most foods, although she still has some texture issues. However, she doesn't seem to quite understand the need to thoroughly chew her food and often gags. Further complicating this, she grabs food and puts it as far back in her mouth as possible. I suspect with her less than perfect hand-eye coordination, she is just trying to ensure delivery, but it makes me nervous when she attempts to swallow her food whole, like an anaconda.

So as we sat at breakfast, it seemed an opportune time to introduce her to some new food. My meal included bacon and I thought we would give it a go. Neil considers it the perfect food and would be happiest if all meals included it. So how could we go wrong? She seemed to enjoy it, gobbling up several pieces as fast as I could tear them up. Heady in our success, I followed it up with a couple of small bites of waffle and eggs.

As I was telling my parents what a great kid she was, generally cheerful, good sleeper, etc, she began to gag. And not the is-she-or-isn't-she kind of gag, but the lookout-it's-coming kind. I registered someone at a neighboring table say "Uh Oh!" and then out it came. And came. And came. Despite my attempts to catch it, it went all down her front, the high chair, the floor, my arm. I was absolutely mortified.

I swear karma has it out for me.