Peanut Butter and Celery

Teaching your kids to be problem solvers...

So today at lunch (pork and beans, cherry tomatoes, celery sticks with peanut butter) I decided to let the children put the peanut butter on their own celery sticks. I gave each person a butter knife and some celery pieces and handed over the jar of creamy peanut butter. Then I left the room. When I came back I discovered that Leah had used the knife to put peanut butter on her fingers, then was attempting to use her fingers to spread the peanut butter on the celery! If you've ever tried this, you know it doesn't work very well. But I give her credit for

1) not putting her fingers right in the peanut butter (my kids are pretty aware of germs)

and

2) thinking that a flexible digit might fit in the curve of the celery better than a hard flat knife end


I didn't comment but I think that the ensuing mess (and it was especially hard for her to figure out how to get down from the table in order to wash her hands off) may have led her to conclude that the knife might be a better tool for the job.

Today was Water Day which meant water pistols at the Comm House. Last time we went to Water Day my children suffered from a little culture shock. They hadn't seen water pistols before and were completely in the dark about the idea of gun play. Tidewater doesn't allow it, I don't allow it, and they've never seen anyone do it. Once they got over the idea of attacking someone else, the girls really enjoyed it. Today they went right over to the water pistols and dove into the action. I'm still not entirely certain whether I agree with water pistols but it's such a part of childhood that I'm not going to raise a ruckus about it.

Now it's time for naps. I am going to lie down on the sofa, watch My Fair Lady, and read my cookbook collection. I had gotten two heads of fennel at the grocery store so that I could make Cream of Fennel and Pear Soup (from Nicole Routhier's Fruit Cookbook) but the pears went bad so I now need good ideas for Things to Do With Fennel.