Tatyana Grechina, Apple for the Baby, 5 × 7 inches, oil on canvas, 2026.

My 18-month old will always ask for an apple from his seat in the buggy when my husband takes him to the grocery store. It has become their weekly ritual. Each time, he will carve a new shape into it with his little sharp teeth, most of the time eating it, but sometimes spitting everything out in a trail of little apple bits his dad has to pick up after him.