Puffdaddy

Yes, we did it. We ran a Pavlovian conditioning experiment on K-bao. How? First, we shake a bright yellow, sleekly-contoured HappyBaby Organic Puffs container. The whole grain puffs (with faint banana flavoring) make a nice rattling sound as they bounce around inside the container. K-bao stops whatever she's doing and fixates on the yellow container. Her eyes light up. Then, with her eyes never leaving the container, we weave the container above eye level, slowly open the cap, and finally let a few puffs tumble onto her tray. "Ooooh," she would say. Out would come those gummy hands, grabbing and pinching and then stuffing the puffs into her mouth as quickly as she can. Below is an example.

These puffs are her favorite snack in the world. In the early stages, it would take K-bao five or six tries to secure a puff. Then, half the time, the puff would fall down her shirt or off the tray en route to mouth. Then, when she did manage to get it there, another 50% of the time it would get stuck in her palm or between her fingers in such a way that she couldn't release it. She would end up either punching her own face or sucking on her knuckles, desperate to get that sweet banana taste into the gills.

Now, however, she's a pro. And if we want K-bao to quiet down and stop yammering? Perhaps she's in the car and isn't quite the model passenger. Or she's being fussy with her peas and carrots. Shake-shake-shake. Immediate focus and peace, along with the attendant Pavlovian saliva. Ahhh.