Smoothies

Peter came running in ahead of his family on Sunday night -- they called to see if they could come over to hang out with us, and showed up on our porch about half an hour later. After our greetings, Peter thought maybe I would watch the screen saver on the computer with him, but I had another idea: making smoothies for dinner together. When I made the suggestion, he changed directions mid-run and made a beeline for the kitchen, where I gave him a seat on the counter beside the blender. He unwrapped frozen bananas, dumped in bags of pineapple chunks, and fished frozen strawberries out of the bag, giving his fingers a good licking in between each fruit to avoid cross-contamination. Then I cut open plums and peaches and he took the pits out. His rule of thumb for the plums was for every pit he removed, he got to tear off a little corner of fruit for a snack; the rest went into the blender. He has a slight fear of blenders, so he cozied up to the wall when I was ready to turn it on, but he remained courageous enough to stay on the counter. Once it was blended, of course we had to taste it! Peter thought it was good, but he really needed another little taste to do his job right.

After we finished our popcorn and smoothies ("copcorn and soothies"), Peter played on the couch for a bit and then it was bath time. When he was all clean, he had yet another plan: "We go downstairs, you read Peter story for bedtime. No Bible here, you read Peter story." I told him we actually DID have Bibles here, just not the one that he usually reads at bedtime. So he found one of our Bible story books on the shelf and took it to an empty rocking chair. "We sit here all-gether," he said, climbing in and scooting over to one side. I wedged myself in beside him and, snuggled close, we read two stories. He was still, listening, taking in every picture and word; I was still, too, taking in every bit of this dear, eager boy.