Love is not the same as Like

So i've been getting alot of guff because i've been quite negligent in my blog posting. Point taken.

So here are some recent stories about Henry and our new raised garden.

Henry loves the backyard and the garden. Henry especially loves "helping" in the garden. Helping is comprised of a number of activities involving "digging" (flinging rocks around with his shovel and occasionally crushing the tender life from a new planting), watering (drowning) the plants and harvesting (ripping leaves, buds and anything else green from the garden). Between Henry, the slugs and the caterpillars I am quite surprised that any fruits of our labor end up on the table at all.

And Henry LLLLOOOOOVVVVEEESSS anything we pick from the garden.

If you haven't figured it out by now, Henry's favorite word du jour is "LLLOOOOVVVEEE" as in "I LLLOOOOVVVEEEE (fill in the blank)". It is very cute but not very accurate.

Tonight we harvested a big colander of lettuce for a salad. Now Henry does not like salad as far as i know but according to him he LLLOOOOVVEEES lettuce. So i put two very small pieces of lettuce on his plate with his dinner.

"What's this?" ask Henry as he points skeptically at the lettuce.
"That's the lettuce we picked. You said you love lettuce."
"That's lettuce? Lettuce is green and mommy and henry picked it?"
"Yes"
"Henry love lettuce?"
"That's what you said"
Henry holds the lettuce somewhere in the vicinity of his mouth, probably closer to his chin.
"I no like lettuce"
"Henry, you didn't even try it. Take a bite."
"I LICKED lettuce and I don't LIKE it"
"Well eat some of your avocado and then you can eat the lettuce"
Later i return to the table and the lettuce is gone.
"Henry you ate your lettuce!"
"No, Buster ate lettuce. Buster LLLOOOOOVVVEEESS lettuce".


They say it takes thirty tastes of something for a child to have a chance of liking it. The lettuce does not stand a chance.