P finally found the bulk flour at the co-op :) He loves the feel of flour so much that I found him lying down in it. This day's play got a little more messy than I prefer... (Why let a child play in flour, you may ask? Its one of the few activities he enjoys independently, making almost any amount of mess Worth It :)
Speaking of the coop, that's been something new in P's life. If you're really curious you can check it out: . Its pretty great. The produce is 24 hours fresh and mostly local, the walk is do-able, even with a loaded down cart and a three year old, and it has all of our "crazy" vegetarian foods :) But since its a shopper owned coop, the shoppers are also the workers. This creates a nice little community, for those who are, um, community minded. At three, P is still pretty P minded, so it has been an interesting exercise in commitment for us both.
As has shopping in small spaces. He was still in the sling when we last shopped at a coop (in Lawrence). When we moved here we had our groceries delivered and P never stepped into stores (places lined with foods he was allergic to or that we'd rather not purchase (which also saved me schlepping it up three flights of stairs myself :)) But the food options through delivery didn't align very well with our environmental stances, so we finally made the switch to the coop. And it is soooo different than food shopping in Kansas. Wide aisles and big carts? Nuh-uh. Top off the close corridors with novice workers shelving foods from enormous carts and forgettaboutit. Its become my little weekly exercise in Zen. Can I focus on the list while pretending to be Baby Brother from half an aisle away (cuz the cart usually doesn't fit where I need to be) while simultaneously making sure the tot parked by the appealing foods doesn't shove it all in the cart And still stay calm? Generally, no, I can't. But it gives a girl a goal.
Luckily, all of the candies and such are food coloring free and P can pick to his heart's content. Even better, the produce aisles are a gardener's nirvana with locally grown purple carrots and fancy eggplants, yellow tomatoes and on and on. P goes crazy with excitement here. We come home with newfangled somethings every week and then experiment in the kitchen. ("Mama, is it called a yuca cuz it tastes yucky?" nicely leads to Cubin inspired garlic yuca for dinner.)
Then there is our work shift. P and I do both E's and mine, amounting to every other week. Its about three hours of childcare in a beautiful room full of toys and books. Oh, and Other Kids. The Only downside for P :) So far, boys have Significantly outweighed girls during our shifts and a trend is appearing. The boys build things or drive cars or chase each other muttering playfully aggressive grunts. The girls sit quietly and rock in the little rocking chair. P generally ignores them all. Except for once when an older kid came in and he and P built an enormous structure together.
But all the extra effort appears worth it. P's become intricately involved in menu planning and food choices, spurring all sorts of learning. We're producing a lot less trash. And the community part is already starting to shine through too. P is seeing even more familiar faces while he's out, either shopping or working. This week as a "walker" followed us home (she returns the cart to the store) she asked about homeschooling. And, of course, her first worry for my kid was his socialization. "Well," I told her, "if he were in school he couldn't be chatting away with you right now..." Cuz after all, she wasn't three years old and P was therefore Totally into her :)
There's really nothing special about the below video. Other than he is playing By Himself :)
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