It intimidated him, to say the least. Can you see the concern and fear in his eyes? Large looming vegetables tend to do this to children.
He picked cautiously at the broccoli stalk with his fingertips, finding its size, rubbery texture, and fragile nature perplexing. The floral shoots on the curd (yes, that is what they're called) would jump for joy and freedom when his little fingers pinched them.
Both he and Mama marveled at how quickly those little green balls bounced everywhere: across the tray, peppering the floor, even wedging themselves between the belt buckle on his harness and somehow getting inside both his shoes and his socks.
Yes, that's right, our boy got right down to it and made a mess:
He CHOMPED with a vigor and ferocity that I hadn't seen before, and then I became the one who was scared!! As my hands dropped the camera to swiftly remove the stalk from his mouth, we came up with a new eating method: suck on the little tree tops like a lollipop. This method kept Mama more at ease and less fearful of chocking. Here's a sample of before and after:
With this method, little Liam devoured all the tree leaves and little branches, and I got to enjoy the trunk and all the larger limbs. Delicious!!
