Striken by the Clap!

It has been somewhat of an adventure to get my 15 month old to eat raw veggies and fruit. So for the last 3 months or so, I've been putting them on her plate at every meal, and trying, trying, trying again.

Yesterday I decided to try with some lettuce from my salad. The problem isn't her putting it in her mouth, it's keeping it there. So she puts the leaf in her mouth and I immediate start applauding, and making a very big deal about her eating this little piece of green vegetable. She started to clap too, and was pleased as punch to be the center of attention. Papi chimed in his approval too. She ate the piece of letttuce (thank you Jesus!) and I gave her another one. Again, racuous applause.

This went on for 10 minutes.

There we were, laughing our heads off, tears streaming down our faces because it was so ridiculous and so cute at the same time, and my child was eating raw lettuce!!!!! It was a series of blessed and perfect moments, all strung together with a flurry of hands.

It got me thinking- when exactly do we stop wildly applauding our children, our partners, our friends? Why can we do it for babies but not ourselves? Why not go over the top for a seemingly small accomplishment and be proud?

My girl took it all in stride. She accepted our applause, she joined in, and she was thrilled. I have no idea if she will eat lettuce again any time soon or how long the being motivated by clapping stage lasts. (I will guess not long enough.) It doesn't matter.

It was perfect.