Blueberries for Owen

Owen loves blueberries. He loves all berries, really, but blueberries might be his favorite. And who could blame him? He started young, picking wild blueberries at G.G.'s and Grampa's. Then there's Grammy's blueberry pies. And blueberry pancakes for breakfast almost every morning. No, I don't get up early to make pancakes every morning. We make one big batch on the weekend and then reheat the leftovers all week. He loves reading Blueberries For Sal and he has been telling me lately that he can't wait to go to G.G.'s and pick blueberries right off of the bush.

Earlier this week we went to the grocery store and they had blueberries on sale. Now in my opinion these blueberries pale in comparison to wild blueberries, but Owen had to have them. So I gave him the carton and he happily ate them as we wheeled our way around the store. I wasn't even to the checkout line when he had the whole carton gone. So I paid the clerk for the empty container. Part of me wanted to tell him not to eat them all - I mean blueberries aren't cheap. But how can you complain when your kid is filling up on fruit?

Then yesterday, we were back at the grocery store (a day would hardly be complete without at least one trip to the grocery store, right? When it comes to shopping and meal planning we are not very organized. Well I guess we are not all that organized when it comes to most things.) We walk into the produce section and right there, more blueberries. Of course Owen wants another box. We get a box but I tell him he will have to wait until we get home to eat some - we are going to make this box last at least a day. We continue through the store and over in the deli/bakery area they have samples of cookies. So Owen and I have one and they are quite tasty. As we head to the car, I ask Owen "If you had a choice between a box of cookies and a box of blueberries, which would you choose?" "A box of blueberries and a box of cookies" he says. "No," I explain, "you can only have one." "A box of blueberries today and a box of cookies tomorrow" he answers. "No, you can't have both. Only one." "A box of blueberries" he finally decides. I really wasn't sure which way he would decide, but I'm feeling pretty good about his answer. So I decide to give him the box of blueberries for the car ride home. It is literally 5 minutes or less to our house from the store. He can't possibly eat the whole box in less than 5 minutes. We get home and I open the back door to get him out of the car seat. I was right, there are 8 blueberries left in the box.