Ever since Luke started eating table food, we are astounded by the quantity of food that he can consume in one sitting. At each meal, Mark and I are reminded of the children's book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", by Eric Carle. This book tells the story of a little caterpillar who eats through pieces of fruit each day of the week, but still remains hungry, until he goes on a ridiculous binge on Saturday (including one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon)... all in preparation to build a cocoon and emerge as a beautiful butterfly. Similar to the caterpillar, Luke's appetite seems endless, and Mark has commented that he is beginning to glimpse how difficult it must have been when he was growing up for his mom to keep a house full of food with 4 young boys eating her out of house and home. So far today, our thriving 23-pound child has eaten:
1.5 servings of Baby oatmeal
1/2 banana
An entire carton of YoBaby Peach Yogurt
Many pieces of cut-up cantelope
1/2 cup cottage cheese
An
enormous serving of noodle, chicken, and pea casserole (see photo, and yes, that is a full-sized 9-inch plate!)
Also, he has nursed 3 times already today.
And, it's only 11:35 in the morning...
(Look who's waiting in the background for scraps to drop!)
Our next door neighbor, Peter, (who is Korean and doesn't speak much English) came over the other day and hadn't seen Luke in awhile. He asked how old Luke was, and when we said 9-months, Peter's eyes grew wide, and he commented incredulously, "Wow! He is super-sized!"
Mark and I found that slightly hilarious, as if we stopped by the McDonald's drive-through during pregnancy and asked God to "super-size" our order for one, healthy baby boy!
But sometimes, the truth lies in these simple phrases.
Yes, dear friends, Luke is super-sized indeed.
And we marvel in wonder at our good eater...
our own very hungry caterpillar!
