We made another trip to the Children’s Museum yesterday. As a family. Jason had never been to this one with us. We have a membership so it is no big deal for us to go a few times a week.

Jack made me super proud. We made our way to the grocery store area. It is actually the chain we happen to shop at most. I am a health nut, clearly. We spend a lot of time in the produce section. Very little time in the middle aisles, where all the boxed and canned things are. We spend probably 98% of our time shopping produce.

Guess what Jackson did in this grocery store. He went crazy in the produce section filling up his cart. He spent most of his time playing in that area. He put every banana in the cart. Which we are banana addicts. He picked out a lot of the fruits and veggies I normally buy. He nearly cleared the produce section out!

He was very serious about his decisions. I was overjoyed. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I was beaming with pride. He has been paying attention to what we do at the grocery store together every week (sometimes more than once a week because we eat so much fresh food) I never considered it to be a structured lesson when we go. Sure,  I want him to want to buy and eat produce. I always hoped I would instill this in him throughout his life. But at a young 18 months old he had already grasped the concept of how our family shops.

We didn’t encourage him to play in this department while there. It was all of his own volition. We just followed him around. He did head out for a bit to check out the dairy area. The boy loves his milk. We got a kick out of that too. He was very careful in examining the different milk options. Then he picked two kinds. Reduced fat and whole milk. Which I do buy. The reduced for Jason and whole for Jack. There was no almond milk for momma.

He then skipped past all the processed goods, again, and headed back to produce to continue his shopping. We even had to try to sneak things back in the bins so the other children could play because he was set on buying it all himself! When he grabbed the organic milk, Jason even commented on how he picked the O Organics brand that I often buy. We always have O Organics products in the fridge.

Notice all the empty produce slots next to Jack? He cleared those out himself.

This was truly one of the more rewarding days I have had as a mom. I am just so proud that he was learning all this time and put to practice how I run our home. I love watching my little helper blossom and make these choices on his own. I really can’t express how proud I am of him. I feel very accomplished in having already started raising a health food savvy son. It is a validating feeling. Different than him learning to walk or talk. We focused on that, worked so hard, spent time consciously trying to teach him those things. THIS I was just teaching him by example because I was making the choices I normally make. He watches me, he is interested in what I am doing, he wants to do the things I do. I wouldn’t change yesterday for the world. I am still so happy and elated today. I love that smart little boy so very much.