What makes a kid decide that she’s no longer interested in sauces or seasonings? It’s like Iris woke up one morning and said to herself, “Hey, you know what would be great on a hot dog? No mustard.”

The other day Iris devoured a huge fried duck egg, but only after I made it look like I hadn’t put any pepper on it. She used to love dipping fries in barbecue sauce and slathering HP sauce on her burger. Not anymore. This happened to me at about her age, too, and lasted for ten years or so. I still hate ketchup.

Last night I made chicken strips and a spicy tamarind dipping sauce. The sauce actually didn’t turn out that great (bad sweet/sour balance), but it had potential. Iris peered at the bowl of sauce and said:

> **Iris:** Ooh, that looks GOOD. And I don’t want any.

**Iris:** (looking stricken) I’ve got some bacon caught in my teeth!

**Laurie:** Would you like me to floss it out?

**Iris:** Yes.

**Me:** Don’t worry, sweetie. I get bacon stuck in my teeth all the time.

**Iris:** Do you have any right now?

**Me:** Yes.

**Iris:** HEY, MAMA! BETTER GET TWO FLOSSES!

**Iris:** When we go camping, we could make marshmallow graham sandwiches.

(pause)

**Iris:** What do you call marshmallow graham sandwiches?

**Laurie:** S’mores.

**Iris:** We could make lots of s’mores. Do they not have bread, just grahams?

Iris woke up and I reminded her that she was going to the babysitter this morning.

**Iris:** What are you going to do?

**Me:** I’m going to do some shopping at QFC and probably write something on my baby computer.

**Iris:** You should write something for your blog about me eating burgers.

No problem! The other night we had burgers and Iris unveiled a new technique wherein she separated the patty from the bun, ate the bun, and then picked up the patty and took huge bites.

I believe this is how Kobayashi eats his burgers.

*Iris plays with her helicopter toy.*

**Me:** The chopper is landing.

**Iris:** What’s a chopper?

**Me:** It’s another word for helicopter.

**Iris:** Like a loud one?

**Me:** Yes, because it goes *chop-chop-chop.*

**Iris:** Like an onion?