Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

This past weekend my husband was out of town and I was home alone with my two boys (for the first time).  We were asked by some friends to join them at the county fair.  I thought to myself, “How am I going to handle an infant who is always hungry and a 3 year old that can’t hold still for more than 5 seconds”?   I decided to brave it by myself.  I knew I would have some help from the other daddies that were there.

We arrived at the fair and instantaneously Jack had a huge smile on his face.   He saw the giant Ferris wheel.  We had a bit of a walk to the entrance and I’m pretty sure he asked to ride the Ferris wheel at least 110 times.  We entered the gates and walked through a large arena that housed animals such as   cows, goats, rabbits, ducks, chickens, pigs, etc.  Jack’s goal was to pet them all, but I was a little apprehensive.  He touched all he could and thought it was so cool.

Once we made our way through the arena we entered the “fair.”  We found our friends right away and the rest is history.  I bought Jack 10 tickets and explained to him that each ride costs 1 ticket and that he would have to choose his most favorite rides.  He managed to ride on a mini roller coaster, motorcycles, giant slide (with me), hot air balloons, helicopters and of course, the Ferris wheel.  I was fortunate enough to have awesome friends who helped Jack on and off the rides while I tended to Tate.

We ate dinner which consisted of corn dogs, a drink and a deep fried Oreo for dessert.  Wow… that was quite the gut buster, but we enjoyed every single bite!  As we left the fair I asked Jack if he had fun and he told me, “mommy, everyday should be a fair day where we eat Oreos”.  I laughed and was happy we went and Jack could experience his first county fair!

Many people love the heat of the summer. And while I must admit that I love being able to wake up and go jump in our pool, there is something special about Fall. I love the sound of the crisp autumn leaves crunching under my feet. I love taking hikes with Brady in the woods behind our home. I love the cool chill in the air. And as a teacher, Fall also has a sense of newness about it: new school year, new goals, new initiatives, new clothes (sad, I know). I even love the excitement of football.

Fall is especially fun as a mom. I am not sure what kind of activities there are for kids in other parts of the United States (and world). But here in the northeast, we have pumpkin patches, apple orchards, hayrides galore, county fairs, “Farmer’s Fair,” many “haunted” places (for the teenage years, not now), and much more. Brady’s personal favorite is what he calls the “Corn Park.” They have small corn mazes for kids, large areas for kids to dig in soy beans and corn, a petting zoo, slides, and much more. I can’t wait for our first trip (which is only 2 days away). It is one of the highlights of Fall in Pennsylvania.

Fall has special meaning this year, since it is Brady’s first year of school (well, preschool). So it has also given me some “new” mommy time. Of course it is spent working, but it is great. I get ten hours per week to work while Brady is in school and can focus more on him when he is home. So all in all the “newness” of this season has been a welcome change in the season of our lives as well.

Today Andrew’s class did a “taste testing.” They were learning the difference between sweet and sour. For sweet, they all gobbled down slices of apple. It was a food most of them knew and they welcomed the familiar taste.

For sour? They tried lemon. Some kids chomped down bravely on the strange yellow fruit. Some loved it so much they begged for more.

And then there’s my son. He tentatively smelled the lemon. Then stuck out his tongue and very carefully liked it. The look on his face was PRICELESS. It was that “HOW COULD YOU TELL ME TO PUT THIS IN MY MOUTH!” look. They took a picture of his cute little face all screwed up in a grimace at the smallest lick at the evil little lemon slice.

He doesn’t have to like everything. But it’s important that he tries new things. We’re just having a little trouble getting him to experiment.

It made me think of a book I just finished reading – Emily Franklin’s Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, and 102 Recipes. Awesome read, by the way, but I’m not really here to plug the book… She tells lots of stories about trying to get her kids to eat new foods. Some were abysmal failures. Some were amazing successes.

But they were willing to try it.

Maybe her experiment worked because her kids were a bit older than Andrew. Or maybe my kid is just way more stubborn that hers.

I guess the only answer is to keep throwing new things in front of him and hope that eventually he’s willing to try it.