Highchair Adventures

They named her "Pan" for her appetite,  

a constant quest of tiny fists and teeth.  

She reaches, fearless, for a world of flavors,  

one olive rolls, she pins it triumphantly.  

Sticky oatmeal paints her delighted cheeks,  

a palette of morning chaos spread wide—  

crushed blueberries drip down her fingers,  

her laugh erupts like a kitchen volcano.  

She examines broccoli like an archaeologist,  

green trees uprooted in her bold excavation.  

Garlic whispers sharp secrets on her tongue,  

while lemon puckers her face into surprise.  

A single pea, held like a polished gem,  

slides between her lips with careful pride.  

What wondrous creature eats boldly, unbound?  

Our pantophagous toddler devours the earth.  

But it’s more than eating—it's her first love,  

a communion with flavors beyond boundaries.  

From olives to the humblest grain of rice,  

she devours the unknown, makes it her own.