Strawberry Thief and Strawberry Jam

As some of you already know, Addison is a serious book lover. She has been from the very very beginning..... listening to books, chewing on books, flipping through books, ripping through books, and now, she's into "reading" books on her own..... but one of her very favorite books is Jamberry by Bruce Degen. We read this book almost every single day.....

This book is wonderful and she first learned the word "Strawberry" from it... I did not know however, until recently, how much she loves Strawberries... let me unravel the strawberry stories...... First, we went to Costco recently... walked by the strawberries, and the girl threw a tantrum as I started to walk past them... STRAWBERRY STRAWBERRY STRAWBERRY.... so of course, like a good Mom encouraging her child to partake of the delicousness (is that word) of fruits over junk food.... I grab the box, and set it into the cart. Little did I know that the next fit would occur two seconds later.. not only did she want the strawberries, she wanted them right then. As I calmly tried to rationalize with my almost 2 year old daughter that the strawberries were not clean and we couldn't eat them yet, I silently prayed that the next aisle would have someone with some sort of decadent treat.... chocolate eclairs.. thank goodness- prayer answered. Yes. I shoved her sweet little pouty mouth with a chocolate eclair just for some peace and quiet.. and quickly hid the strawberries in the cart.

So............ knowing that lil one likes strawberries...... I decided that a special treat would be strawberry jam........ I decided to surprise her with a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich with it... and while watching the Blue Angels air show out on the harbor, I pulled it out. She was literally licking the sandwhich box clean... like a little puppy. Stawberry toddler heaven. The Blue Angels put on quite a show, very impressive, and as much as Addison loves airplanes... she managed to fall asleep smack dab in the middle of the show......... as we literally had them flying right over us!

After hearing my child yell "STRAWBERRY JAM AND TOAST" every morning this week, I have one last strawberry story. The scene- Farmers Market, Summerville, SC. The subject and her parents and cousin Peter are shopping for vegetables and other produce. Subject's Mom is searching for strawberries, while holding subject's hand, an older woman leans over, and says that my daughter must really like strawberries, I look down to see my daughter has STOLEN a strawberry from another basket and is tasting it. Nice huh? I have a theif on my hands folks... that's right!

We had a great day on the beach watching the Blue Angels with Addison's Uncle Ricky, Aunt Jennifer, and cousin Fifi (Sophie).... we played and played.....ate and ate....... and of course, there was dancing............

What else............. we're getting ready for monkey to turn 2... can't believe that is about to happen................ but we're so excited....... Hope to see the family all there!! And last but not least, hubby requests pics of Blue Angels to be posted... so enjoy....