Oct 9
2009

The Last Bite of Summer

in Family

Sometimes the lessons you try to teach your children come back to bite you.  This summer I tried to teach Squirrel about the different things growing in our garden.  We smelled the herbs and talked about the colors of the different plants.  She knows that rosemary smells good and likes to go bury her face in the rosemary bush and inhale deeply.  She knows that vegetables change colors as they grow and ripen.  She also knows how to pick things, further reinforced by the fact that she helps my parents pick (and eat) their cherry tomatoes when we visit their house.  Our tomatoes have not done well this year, and we have only harvested a few.  The last tomato of the summer was ripening on the vine when I sent Squirrel outside to play in the backyard a few days ago.  I saw her go over to the tomato plant and examine the tomato.  I noticed, as she must have noticed, that it looked ready to be picked.  I’m sure you have already guessed what happened next—she reached out and plucked the tomato off of the plant, put it up to her mouth and took a big juicy bite.

Although I was kicking myself for not having gotten to the tomato before she had, I couldn’t really be angry.  She was just putting into practice the lessons I taught her this summer, and I can’t help but be proud that she was choosing a healthy snack and being a locavore on top of it.

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* Are you curious to know what’s inside of my refrigerator, and the refrigerators of some other bloggers? Head over to A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa to have a peek at Diana’s What’s In Your Fridge? column!

* I just want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who voted for my entry in the Pham Fatale Bread Contest!  There were obviously a lot of you because somehow my entry won!

{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

Jamie October 9, 2009 at 9:36 am

Yay to winning with your bread! Terrific! And Yay for raising such a smart, cute girl!

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Paula - bell'alimento October 9, 2009 at 9:37 am

First off how cute is your little one? Bellissima! & Congratulations on winning the contest! So awesome!

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maybelle's mom October 9, 2009 at 11:12 am

you know, I had the same thing happen this year to us with Belle. My husband chuckled at me when I was both kicking myself and patting my back. congrats on the bread.

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Jen Sue Wild October 9, 2009 at 11:13 am

Congrats on winning that is great news!!

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Jen October 9, 2009 at 11:28 am

that's fantastic! it even makes ME want to try to make bread! :) guess who's getting stalked again??!!! :)

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Mary October 9, 2009 at 11:49 am

We have a confirmed tomato lover sighting :-) She is just darling and as my good friend once said to me as my daughter flavored plain yogurt, "You done good with her." Have a great day.

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Bob October 9, 2009 at 12:04 pm

Congratulations on winning! Heh, Squirrel is adorable.

My parents had a strawberry patch when I was growing up and for a couple years they thought it was sick or something since it didn't make berries. Turns out my sister was waking up a 5 in the morning and going out at eating them all. She was about 4.

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Print Brochures October 9, 2009 at 4:52 pm

Haha! Great! She's so cute. It looks like she really wants the tomato. She's really absorbing the lessons you are teaching her. Congratulations. This is a really cute post.

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Mardi @eatlivetravelwrite October 9, 2009 at 6:22 pm

See THIS is why you are nominated for Best Family Blog! (though I think you qualify for many more!) Lovely post and of course, Squirrel is gorgeous! Congrats on the bread win (again not surprising)!

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Nutmeg Nanny October 9, 2009 at 7:27 pm

How cute!

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Amanda October 9, 2009 at 7:33 pm

Man she is just cute as a button :) I want a tomato!

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Diana Bauman October 9, 2009 at 9:25 pm

Rachael, This is so hilarious. I have a similar story, last year my then 2 year old son, picked some fresh tomatoes without my noticing and hid to eat them. It was so cute!! You have such a beautiful daughter!!

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Jackie at Phamfatale.com October 10, 2009 at 3:21 am

She;s so precious. It seems that your little munchkin really enjoyed that tomato. Once more, congrats on the bread contest: your prize is on its way to Fuji Mama's home =)

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Food, she thought. October 10, 2009 at 7:20 am

I have beautiful memories of spending lots of time in my mom's vegetable garden as a child. This post really brings it all back.

Welcome to fall!

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Katrina October 11, 2009 at 6:29 am

Too cute! At least she didn't do what my 2 year old did. This spring I showed him how to plant some tomatoe and pepper plants on our deck in some planters. But first I had to pull the old ones from last year (should have done that last fall). I pulled up the dead plant and threw it over the deck. Then proceeded to show him how to plant the new ones. After that, everytime he went out on the deck, he'd pull the new plants and watch them sail over the deck. He did it 5, 7, 10 times before I decided we just weren't having anything on the deck this year! It was my fault. I showed him how without even thinking what I was "teaching" him.
Really cute daughter!

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Darina October 11, 2009 at 10:00 am

Congratulations on your winning entry. How wonderful that you have a garden and can teach your children where their food comes from. I remember our garden from childhood vividly and wish I could have one of my own.

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Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction October 11, 2009 at 8:09 pm

So cute… I'm sure the next best thing to eating the tomato was watching Squirrel enjoy it! Congrats on your winning bread recipe!

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