We’ve been really experimenting with the garden – table connection, and having a lot of fun with it.  Not too long ago, Monkey had a couple of friends over and we set them up with some seedlings, water and soil.  Each girl planted some plants that we had on hand waiting to go in the ground anyway.  We used cardoon, pole beans and strawberry plants, but you could use anything appropriate for your zone (talk with someone at your local nursery).  It has been wonderful to watch the plants grow and the girls come by to check on them and snack right off of the plant.  (Once again, I’m able to maintain my hands off, raw food, vegan philosophy on the table without hitting anyone over the head with it.)  The best part is that the girls treat these fresh off the vine fruits and veggies as treats!

Since we’ve been talking about tea and playhouses in the last month, I wanted to post a pic of what real ingenuity (and time on your hands thanks to retirement) can do. This is a playhouse built by my father-in-law for his five grand daugthers. It is fantastic. An adult can almost stand completely in it, there are shelves and a play stove inside – along with all kinds of kitchen accoutrements – and outside there is a picnic table, windsock, windows, doorbell, and wind chimes. He used only scrap material he had around his place or that he found at garage sales.
As I’ve always maintained, sometimes getting kids to eat is all about the place. Location, location, location! Monkey spent hours playing and eating in this playhouse.

This little tea party was put together by my father-in-law, and believe me it was a huge hit with Monk.  She couldn’t get enough of pouring, and then drinking, the water.  We were all drafted, I mean invited, to attend the tea party.  Eventually we moved into snacks which included Pepperidge Farm Goldfish instead of the traditional toast and jam. It didn’t matter to monk: she’s had toast and jam before, but now goldfish are her newfound love.

Huge playdate today at Brush Creek park, and as always, a large part of the time is devoted to eating. Shown is just a portion of the terrific spread – all kinds of summer fruits, plus cheese and puffy snacky cracker things. Naturally my daughter had a front row seat. Its funny how some kids eat more when they see other kids eating. Eating is as contagious as yawning for them. One of my mom friends calls them social eaters. There were lots of new babies today, too. I guess on some days it comes down to modeling. What is my approach to eating and socializing? I think I’m usually so busy talking that I’m not paying attention to my eating. My daughter on the other hand eats when she’s eating, plays when she is playing, and so on. I’ve never seen such focus. A lot of the kids demonstrated the same intensity while playing: most of them enjoyed playing with the faucet while the moms chatted and looked on.