Done Worse

I like tomatoes. I think they’re tasty, and I admit that I once ate way too many of them while in grad school.  Our Sun Gold cherry tomato plant was laden with delicious, bite-sized golden fruits. They had that warm tomato smell as they basked in the afternoon sun, and I picked and ate and ate and ate them. They were so delicious that I felt blessed … until later that night, when my stomach reminded me about the whole moderation thing. Turns out it’s true for tomatoes too.

I’m not sure if it’s genetic, but our boy is also a tomato fiend. I’ve never seen a toddler plow through so many of them at one sitting, much less beg for more. Given this propensity for the fruit, and their high cost in the grocery store, I planted 4 cherry tomato plants in the garden this spring AND, just in case, my parents got us an extra one in a pot.  Joy upon joys, they are starting to produce ripe fruit.

The potted plant is on our porch and is visible to certain tomato-focused people from inside the house. Every morning he looks out and says “Mato? I want ‘matos!”  We have a ritual where we go out to the plant to see if any are ripe. After some training, and some premature pickings, he now knows which ones are ripe – the orange ones – points to them and announces “I pick it!” Note that this is a statement and not a question. This is my cue to make a snap decision as to whether they are actually ripe and whether they should be picked, as every millisecond counts. Upon seeing a ripe fruit, AJ magically develops lightning-fast fingers and can pick and pop tomatoes into his mouth – pausing only to give a look of satisfaction – before a normal adult brain has managed to send the signal to the arm that it best move as there’s a trouble comin’ down the pike.

Life is not so good where there are no ripe tomatoes and I am forced to say “No picking, they are not ready,” while madly flinging my arms out to grab him before a tomato is taken before its time. This is not the end of the struggle, however. He will beg “Pleeeeeease?!? Pleeeeeease?!?!? Pleeeeeease?!?!?!?!” as he circles around the pot to try to escape my reach and get them from another angle.  Not infrequently, we have to carry him inside screaming and kicking to stop the sneak-attacks as he wails ” ‘Mato!! I want ‘MATO!!!!”

Action Jackson: Tomato Ninja