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Veggie sculpture (or, Bad Mommy, Bad Mommy!)
Let me preface this by saying I am a VERY conscientious mother. I am actually paranoid. Well, the lesson of this story is that it is not beyond even the most neurotic mother to sometimes make a fatal error of judgement. (That is what I tell myself anyway). Just such a lapse occurred when Mastermind, my 6yo asked me if he could play with the hot-peppers. Okay, this is a no-brainer, of COURSE you don’t let children play with hot peppers! Why would ANYONE in their right mind do this!! Here’s the story.
The kids were watching our favorite family show, Challenge on the Food Network. Now if you haven’t seen this, it is really exciting. These world-renown chefs and food artisans participate in a themed contest for prize money of $10,000. The particular one they had just watched was on fruit carving. It was amazing what these people did with fruit! Inspiring! So inspiring that the kids wanted to create a challenge of their own. We were kind of low on fruits so they included vegetables as well. Even then, I only had a few carrots, some pickling cucumbers, some oranges, and some celery. You should also know that I was in the midst of organizing and labeling my Sonlight books and binders, (all brain cells working at full capacity!) when Mastermind asked if he could use the hot peppers in his sculpture. It was really just a flat “No,” at first, but he proceeded with further prodding and agitation. In just a glimmer of thought, I had considered how pitiful the fruit and veggie selection was (shopping guilt), and saw the creative spark about to be extinguished from his little baby-browns. I came out with, “Okay, but be careful, don’t cut it up and don’t touch your eyes.”
They were all happily sculpting now, until one bathroom break broke the silent creativity. ”It’s burning!!!” The screams didn’t make sense until I realized what had happened. Mastermind had apparently transferred some of the residual oil from his hands to his nether-region. If I had been quicker to recognize this, I could have kept him from rubbing his now tearful eyes. The scream was now, “I’m blind!” By now my brain had kicked into “Duh!” mode and I figured out what was going on (I really was preoccupied!) I got him in the bathtub and splashed him all over with water. Before you call DSS, check out the beautiful sculptures they created.