The apple

I was snacking on an apple this morning when Martin came over and demanded his portion.

Happy to oblige his desire for healthy foods, I sliced off some small pieces and put them within reach of his small hands. I failed to notice, however, that he had shoved more than one piece into his mouth at once.

Moments later, he had toddled into the living room where he sat coughing and gagging on a piece of apple caught in his throat. Apples are in that weird category of food that, right now, are easy for him to bite off but not as easy for him to chew thoroughly enough to swallow. I can usually avoid problems by giving him tiny pieces, but it doesn't help when he decides to try multiple pieces in his mouth at once.

Both of my kids have very sensitive gag reflexes, so I could see where this was going. But Martin was sitting on the edge of the rug and leaning over the laminate floor, so I figured it would be an easy clean-up.

Nope. To try to dislodge the offending piece of apple, Martin decided to stand up. He turned this way and that, and as I was rushing across the room to aim him in the right direction, he promptly threw up all over my oriental rug...mere inches from the laminate floor.

Luckily, milk and apples do not cause stains. Still, cleaning up shiny hard laminate would have been so much easier than cleaning up a fancy rug.

After this incident, Martin fussed for the appropriate amount of time in order to let me know that he was displeased with me for letting him get a piece of food lodged in the back of his throat, and then he toddled off happily and let me clean up the mess.

Moral of the story: Do not feed the baby apples. Also, try not to get too attached to things you own that are of some value. The children will do what they can to depreciate those items as quickly and disgustingly as possible.