It's Just Lunch

Every now and then, something happens with one of the kids that reminds me of what literary critics would call their otherness, their alterity, the differences between their experience and mine that I'm not even aware of most of the time.  It's such a tiny thing, but the other day Allison Clare said something that reminded me of how little she still knows.  I called her over for lunch and told her she had a ham-and-cheese sandwich and some raspberries.  She asked with a kind of delighted anticipation, "Do you know how to make a ham-and-cheese hoagie?"  Clearly relishing the last word.  "Yes, we can have that some day--where did you hear about that?" "They had it for lunch at school and they read the menu for the kindergarten too even though we don't have lunch because the K-plus [extended day] kids have lunch.  And can you make a chef's salad?"  My little Munchkin--such zest for the exotic treats life offers!