Meir's First Beracha

Meir has actually been making berachot for over a year, but today he said his first real beracha.

He was sitting in his high chair eating cereal (Cheerios and Kix) and milk, and he spilled some of his milk onto his high chair tray. He began splashing that milk, making a mess. After one or two splashes, I grabbed a paper towel and started to wipe it up, and gave him a little lecture. (I want him to eat his food as much as possible, because he can stand to gain a lot of weight.) I told him that he should not play with his food; that food is for eating and not for playing with; that splashing the milk wastes it, and that we should not waste food; that there are children in Africa who are hungry and would love to have this food (yes, I'm weird :) ); that therefore we have to appreciate the food we have and treat it with respect; that Hashem gave us this food to eat and not to waste.

He sat a minute thinking about this, and then tilted his head up, heavenward, and said (and this is a direct quote!): "Hashem, thank you for giving me this food. I am eating it. I am not wasting it."

(And now you see what I mean by his first real beracha. Not Hebrew words which he doesn't understand, but a real "thank you" for the food to Hashem before eating.)

And then he started eating his food. And he was very conscientious about finishing it all by the end of breakfast, not wanting to waste it.

About two minutes into his resumption of breakfast, he offered his first sacrifice. ;) He has two spoons in his bowl for cereal and milk, and uses both - a larger metal one, and a smaller plastic one. Two minutes into this, he once again tilted his head upward, and lifted his red plastic spoon heavenwards. He then handed this red spoon to me, saying, "Abba, please give this spoon to Hashem." Then, about 10 seconds later he laughed and said "Hashem doesn't have a mouth!"

Very cute, and very theologically advanced for a two-and-a-half year old, I think.