Can I eat it, mom?

Children commonly go through food phases. I ate so many pureed carrots as a baby that my parents tell me my skin took on a faint orange hue. One of my friends has a 4-year-old who refuses to eat pink or red foods. This is the first time either of my daughters has ever had a long-lasting obsession about a particular food. We frequently go through brief stages. I might have one week when my girls can’t seem to gobble enough apples, so I buy a large bag the next time I’m at the store. Then the craving passes and the apples sit neglected on the kitchen counter, so I end up making a batch of apple crisp before they rot. Tough life, right?

I keep waiting for Abigail’s banana craze to pass, but she’s been going strong for several months now. She might have one week when she’s less crazy about bananas and will eat only one. But the other day, I bought five bananas in a bunch. Within thirty-six hours, one half of a banana was all that remained. At the height of a banana craving episode, Abigail might eat four in a single day if I let her.

Abigail used to call them ba-DAH-ba-dahs, but her speech has developed so she now says the word correctly, which is way less cute. And she cries when she can’t have them. I used to let them sit on the counter and look pretty in the fruit bowl, but out of desperation I began storing them in the fridge so I wouldn’t have to dole one out every time we walked through the kitchen. Thankfully, bananas are the cheapest fruit in the grocery store, with whole bunches selling for less than a dollar.

I could make a batch of these, right?

Sometimes I wonder where Abigail got her love of bananas. Is it because I ate a lot of them to combat leg cramps when I was pregnant? At least I don’t have to worry about her potassium intake. Bananas are in a class of their own among fruits for
another reason, too. Most fruits like berries or apples can make for really mean diaper situations. Blueberries – another favorite fruit in our house – are the worst. Bananas, on the other hand, are totally diaper friendly.

Inspired by Abigail’s banana obsession, I’ve started looking for cake ideas for her second birthday this fall. I’m not sure I’m talented enough to make a cake that looks like a banana, but after combing the Internet and Pinterest, I think I could make a good-looking monkey cake or cupcakes, and that’s almost the same thing.

Maybe someday my daughter’s love of bananas will wane and I’ll be able to make banana bread again. Either that, or I’ll just have to start buying two or three bunches at a time.

How about you moms out there? Are your kids obsessed about a particular food?