Mother Words: Love, Wonder and Tuna Melts

Our Friday Mother Words is about love and food - a perfect end to a week of wonderful essays from Kate Hopper's class of literary moms. But wait, it's not over yet! Check back Monday for the final essay.

Love, Wonder, and Tuna melts by Sarah Endo

"Want peet-tZAHH!" That's how my two-year-old requested breakfast this morning.

Polite? Not so much. But understandable? Oh yeah. Like me, my youngest would be happy if the world had just two food groups: pizza and dessert.

At the other end of the culinary spectrum is my five-and-a-half-year-old. This morning she cheerily asked, "Can I have cinnamon O's and a carrot?"

"Okay," I said. "Which one do you want first?"

"The carrot!"

"Awwww!"

My big girl also loves salad. And tofu smoothies—which I blend up from three notoriously decadent ingredients: tofu, bananas, and plain yogurt.

And, get this, tuna melts! My daughter likes tuna melts!

To me, the mere thought of a tuna melt elicits an eww face—all that pulverized fish flesh slumped in a smelly, mushy pile. And yet, to my girl, it's as attractive as a chocolate croissant.

It all began when my husband took her out to lunch one Saturday. He ordered a tuna melt for himself and offered her a taste. Next thing they knew, she had a new favorite food and was matching him bite for bite.

So while her sister and I have English muffin pizza, she munches on a tuna melt.

Beaming, she asks, "Mama, do you know what's the best part?"

"What part?" I say, picturing the toasty grill marks on the focaccia and the pale melted cheese.

And she grins even bigger and says, "The tuna!"

If there are two kinds of people in the world—those who go running towards tuna melts, and those who go running away—then she and I are in different camps. But I don't try to change her. As my sister's friend, Rachel, would say, I try not to "yuck her yum." I mean, tuna melts are really good for you.

She is exactly what I've always wanted—a delicious daughter to love—in yuck and in yum.