Representative Sampling

This is pretty much how Miriam spends much of her time: flicking objects behind her and eating dirt off the floor. At what age to little ones stop eating dirt?? I mop and vacuum and still she manages to find the tiniest bits of dirt to eat. I am not worried about her eyesight or grasping ability because she even picks up single strands of hair. It seems like a bad evolutionary trick to have babies develop the pincer grasp before they can discern what is safe to eat. At least she puts her eating abilities to good use at meal times. She LOVES to feed herself and gets frustrated if the pureed food portion of a meal goes on too long. She feeds herself little chunks of banana, mango, avocado, Cheerios, puffs, yogurt melts, cooked apples, ripe pears, green beans, black beans, cheese, and turkey loaf. The only food she doesn't like is peas. Don't blame her.