Cute Alia

When Alia and Katie came over today, at one point Alia suddenly went running down the hall -- probably to try to use the telephone. When she rounded the corner into my bedroom, she exclaimed over and over, "What. Happened. What. Happened?" When I caught up with her, I had no idea what had happened; I didn't see any evidence of a toddler-crime being committed. "I don't know, Alia. What happened?" She patted the stripped bed's mattress pad. "What. Happened?" Oh! She had never seen our bed while the sheets were being washed! That surprise sure caught her up short!



We spent about an hour raking and hauling leaves to the garden this afternoon. I was about to put the last batch into one of the long-empty raised beds. I noticed that some of the spring spinach had gone to seed and we had some baby spinach coming up there alongside the weeds. So before burying them under the leaves-for-compost, I nibbled some utterly delectable spinach. Alia showed up at my side. Desiring to brainwash the child expose her to more treats from the garden, I said, "Mmmmm! Spinach! Yummy yummy! Do you want some?" Of course she did. But when it went in her mouth, she wasn't so sure. "Mmmm. Here's more spinach for Grandma. OH, this is SO good." And I munched several more leaves, asked her if she wanted more, and she hesistantly accepted. Within ten minutes we had eaten all the baby spinach in the raised bed. She had tried to nab some ground ivy and some grass and some overgrown dandelion and some plantain. "No, Alia, those will taste nasty. Only eat what Grandma or Mommy gives you from the garden. This one is spinach -- yum yum. That one is ground ivy -- nasty. This other one is spinach -- yummy. No, don't eat the grass; that will taste nasty."


So after we wipe out the spinach and fill the bed with leaves, she runs around the backyard and plays. And then she found the spinach rows in the main garden. She picked them and ate them. "Yum, yum. Grandma 'pinach?" "Yes, Alia, I would love some; thank you; it's good!" And she knew what plants near the spinach not to eat. Pretty soon Katie made her way to the back yard and informed me that Alia does not like spinach.

I do love brainwashing children.