Pick a pepper...

I subscribe to a website that emails me each week to tell me about the baby's development. It's so fascinating how much happens in the course of seven days and how quickly he/she is growing. From one week to the next, joints become moving parts, fingers and toes develop tiny little fingernails and toenails, the internal organs learn their jobs. I am fascinated and humbled by nature. But I find it interesting, and mildly funny, that the last bit of the email is always about weight and size--and it's always a food metaphor. A couple of weeks ago the baby was likened to a small avocado, then a turnip, now a ripened pepper. It's probably because there's a universal understanding about vegetables and fruits, thus making them the perfect international language of baby development. But when I picture my grandchild as produce, I have trouble imagining his or her perfect face without plug-in features like Mr. Potato Head. That's not right.