Free-range food

Last week Oliver and I were out in the garden picking tomatoes for dinner that night, and when we finished, I set Oliver and the tomatoes on the deck so I could weed and water the garden. Oliver enjoys being outside and I let him do his own thing. When I went to collect him to go inside to start dinner, I was shocked to find him covered in tomato juice and seeds - he'd noshed on every tomato I had picked! Oliver loves tomatoes, but it didn't occur to me that he'd try to eat one I hadn't sliced and handed to him. Since he doesn't have any teeth, he didn't do too much damage (other than making a mess of his clothes) and I was able to cut off the sections he'd bitten into and use the unmarred pieces.

So yesterday when Oliver and I went apple picking yesterday with a friend and her 13-month-old, I was prepared to give Oliver free range. It was a gorgeous day with a hint of crisp fall air and the orchard was littered with recently-fallen apples and branches hanging at baby level. My friend and I moved from tree to tree trying to find room for just one more apples in our bags, and the boys crawled around in the grass and tried tasting every apple they could get their hands on. Us moms left with 20+ pounds of apples between the two of us and the boys with bellies full of sweet Minnesota grown apples.