Maddy and the Mushroom

Maddy and her trusty sidekick
Originally uploaded by Allan & Cheryl.

Lunch today included some cooked mushrooms. Maddy - my usually not at all picky eater - got very, very upset about the mushroom on her plate, "no. NO GET IT OFF!"

I told her to, "Just try it."

That was met with a chorus of, "NO NO NO NO NO."

Now Maddy is a drama queen but this time there were real tears pouring down her face as she literally backed away from the plate crying, "NO!"

Finally I said, "Maddy, EAT IT."

She looked at me and said, "NO, IT POISENOUS!"

I about fell over. (This was the longest word I've ever heard Maddy say.)

Of course, Melissa and Michael instantly spit out their mushrooms and pushed their plates away.

Then it dawned on me: this fall when the leaves fell and the rains came - there were little mushrooms growing in our lawn and in the path through the "forest" in the local park. I had emphasized over and over to the kids that they were NOT TO PICK, TOUCH or especially EAT wild mushrooms.

Maddy remembered! This child usually has a memory of about 5 minutes for anything we tell her and she remembered all the way back from this past fall.

I felt bad because Maddy thought I was trying to poison her; then I thought it was kind of funny; then I was proud of her for remembering what I told her about mushrooms. Of course no amount of explaining about mushrooms from the store being o.k. to eat would convince any of them to try mushrooms after that.