I should start this by saying that Ava really wants to plant things and watch them grow. She's been hung up on this topic for a long time. She's already begging for a garden next year. Even last spring, she planted a peach pit in our backyard and then sat, very still and very quiet for a long time staring at the ground. Finally I asked, "What's wrong?" "Shhh. Mommy, I'm growing my apple tree" she answered in a serious tone. She thought that if she planted and watered that seed, a tree would shoot right outta the ground. I didn't even bother to explain that apple trees don't grow from peach pits. I did however, have to explain that it takes a looong time for trees to grow from a seed. An apple tree wouldn't be popping out of the ground anytime before dinner so she'd better head on in and wash up.
Two weeks ago we headed back to Indiana for a visit. As soon as the wheels stopped rolling and my gearshift popped into the "P" in Mom and Dad's driveway, Ava jumped out of her booster seat, leaped from the car, and was up my parents sidewalk as fast as her little feet could carry her. She was screaming and gesturing toward a patch of sunflowers. "My magic! IT WORKED! Yes! YES! Look, look Mom! My magic! I grew them! I grew them!" After calming her down enough to get an explanation, we found that she had, in fact planted the seeds that had grown into those sunflowers. My mom, a meticulous gardener had been so busy for the last month or so that she'd meant to get around to pulling the unsightly "weeds" that popped up by her back door. The task had gotten put off long enough that those "weeds" bloomed into sunflowers. It was a curiousity that neither of my parents could figure out. Certainly neither of them had planted sunflowers. So here is what Ava explained: She and Riley, my nephew sorted through the bird seed from the bird feeder in my parent's lawn. They pulled out all of the "big" seeds. The sunflower seeds. Then they dug a hole and planted and watered them with the hose, getting extremely dirty in the process. That's a fact. I have pictures of them on the day that those seeds were planted, from our visit back in June. Here are a couple of Ava the Gardener:
And a couple of video clips of her in front of the sunflowers, explaining "the magic" she created. I like the part in the second clip where she says, "I was very sneaky"
Two weeks ago we headed back to Indiana for a visit. As soon as the wheels stopped rolling and my gearshift popped into the "P" in Mom and Dad's driveway, Ava jumped out of her booster seat, leaped from the car, and was up my parents sidewalk as fast as her little feet could carry her. She was screaming and gesturing toward a patch of sunflowers. "My magic! IT WORKED! Yes! YES! Look, look Mom! My magic! I grew them! I grew them!" After calming her down enough to get an explanation, we found that she had, in fact planted the seeds that had grown into those sunflowers. My mom, a meticulous gardener had been so busy for the last month or so that she'd meant to get around to pulling the unsightly "weeds" that popped up by her back door. The task had gotten put off long enough that those "weeds" bloomed into sunflowers. It was a curiousity that neither of my parents could figure out. Certainly neither of them had planted sunflowers. So here is what Ava explained: She and Riley, my nephew sorted through the bird seed from the bird feeder in my parent's lawn. They pulled out all of the "big" seeds. The sunflower seeds. Then they dug a hole and planted and watered them with the hose, getting extremely dirty in the process. That's a fact. I have pictures of them on the day that those seeds were planted, from our visit back in June. Here are a couple of Ava the Gardener:
And a couple of video clips of her in front of the sunflowers, explaining "the magic" she created. I like the part in the second clip where she says, "I was very sneaky"
