the big (boy) apple

I gave Raisin an apple to hold onto while we did our grocery shopping the other day. As we made our way through the store, one of the employees said, "You know, if you weigh that and print out the sticker, you can let him eat it while you're shopping." To which I replied, "Oh thanks, but he can't eat a whole apple like this yet. I have to cut it up for him."

As we pay for the groceries, he looks very distraught as the cashier places his apple/ball in the bag. And soon he starts to vocalize his uneasiness about the whole thing. I explain to the cashier that he was just concerned about his ball/apple. So she fished it out of the bag and handed it to him.

He's ready for a snack when we get home so I think, why not some apple (he's still holding on to it)? I explain how we're going to have a tasty apple treat and begin to cut it. The look he gave me was similar to the look he would've given me if I began to cut into his left arm. "No! No! No!' He cried. So I hand him the apple minus one chunk. He looks at it lovingly, lifts it to his mouth and takes a bite right out of it. Just like a big apple-eating boy. He looked like he had been doing it for years.

Snacktime was over but apparently apple-time wasn't and he proceeded to walk around the house taking a nibble here, a nibble there. When we went out front to do some weeding, he carried his dear friend apple with him. It began to turn brown and he dropped it a few times on the ground. Still, he continued to gnaw away at its flesh. At one point, he was sitting on the porch steps, apple-to-mouth and he looked like such a kid. My boy's growing up. Oh, how I wish I had a picture of that.

Instead I have just this.