Vegetable Love

My Boy Child is 6. Kindergarten. He has recently discovered that he loves an eggplant. Not eggplant, an eggplant. Not an eggplant dish. One particular eggplant. From my crisper. Three days ago he discovered an eggplant in the fridge. He pulled it out and began dancing with it. I told him it was an eggplant. He made it an eggplant song. Eggplant! Eggplant! Eggplant! Every morning he pulls it out, dances with it, and chants his Eggplant Song.

I am telling you if we made a video and put it on YouTube, we'd be viral. If we sent it to AFV, we'd be rich.

This evening he pulled it out to play with it. His sister is 8. She encourages him. She gave him a short green sock for a hat, and a shiny purple piece of fabric for a blankie. He was so proud that his eggplant's green top had a green hat. He cuddled with his eggplant for an hour. I am not kidding. Before you begin to think that this is some sort of regressive thing, I assure he does it with a wonderful sense of the absurd. He knows it is silly, and does it in a silly way. But he also does it in a very genuine way.

After tucking in, reading, tucking again, Dad reading, and Mom snuggling tonight he asked me if he could cuddle with Eggplant all night. I said I thought by morning eggplant would be squishy and rotten, so no. He asked if there was another fruit or vegetable he could sleep with. (Somehow this only sounds guttery now...) Again, no. He settled on Murpert, my 15 year old purple hippo with yellow ears, and the sweetest loving expression ever on a stuffed animal.

Where am I gonna find a stuffed eggplant for him? How much therapy is this gonna take?

I am grateful for beautiful, brilliant, silly children. I am so blessed.