BOY, I wish I'd had my camera handy during supper last night.

Last Saturday, Iliya and I went to the local Farmer's Market to support our local farmers by purchasing veggies for this week's meals. The purchase included squash, zucchini, onions, garlic, purple hull peas, lima beans, sweet potatoes, and quite a few other things...all for less than $30.

I suspect that Iliya is going through a growth spurt, because he's just not been eating great, lately. He's been playing with his food more than actually eating it...so really, it could be a growth spurt or just some random lack of appetite. Who knows? We do have the 'if you don't eat it, you don't get anything else later' rule...but it hasn't seemed to phase him as of late.

ANYWAY, last night, I sauteed some of the fresh zucchini, yellow squash, onions, & garlic together as a side dish for our grilled chicken. It was delicious (if I must say so myself!). And Iliya nibbled at his food before deciding it was more fun to move it around on his plate. It wasn't too long before he abandoned the use of his utensils and decided he wanted to squeeze a slice of yellow squash (cut in circles) to watch the water drip out of it.

That kind of thing drives me nuts, but I don't see a lot of harm in it...except that I don't want him transferring behaviors like that from home to public. But last night, as long as the food stayed on his plate, I didn't have the energy to fight that battle.  As Nathan and I talked and ate, Iliya more-or-less pushed his food around his plate and with fascination, squeezed his squash.  All the sudden, we were interrupted by, "Watch, mama!  See?!"