After You Eat Your Apple...

Much to the kid's delight, a tour group came through earlier bringing with them a huge, beautiful cake. It wasn't time for a birthday party yet (we plan to celebrate next week) but that was not a problem.

Cake for snack it was!

We have one of those "silly little rules" in the preschool that the children must eat their fruit before they can have their crackers, cookies or cake. That rule was very hard to follow this particular afternoon. Samuel doesn't really care for fruit; Lucy kept trying to convince us that she was done, and Eliana was so distracted by the cake that she couldn't concentrate on finishing her apple.

Eventually, after a few failed attempts by the mischievous little ones to prove to us that they were indeed done, despite the fact that there was half an apple slice clenched in their fist, the fruit was gone and cake was served.

Lucy chose to get the apple-eating over with as quickly as possible and just put the rest in her mouth. Then she clasped her hands and said, "ready!" Much to her disappointment, we asked her to finish chewing.

Hannah was the star of snack-time. She didn't fuss or complain about eating her apple. She finished her slice and waited patiently for the rest of the children to finish theirs before being served cake. Hannah was served first and she certainly deserved it. You won't often see a frown on the face of this sweet-tempered girl!

As soon as Samuel had finished chewing his apple he was already deep into his slice of cake. Working hard to get out of eating his apple had given him an appetite. After the, "Quick, take a picture of Samuel!" moment he was instructed to use his spoon. Then we had to tell him to use only his spoon.

Ajay was an impressive eater this afternoon. He can be a bit picky, but today his sweet tooth was out in full force and he plowed through both the apple and the cake.

...and thus ends another tangible lesson in consequences.