Friday Lunch with the Hedgehogs

Every Friday at Jude's school, a teacher or a parent cooks lunch with and for the children in the Hedgehog classroom. Taking advantage of Oma and Opa's help with Maeve, I signed up for this past week. I have been taking Jude to school every Friday and staying to play so I have got to see him and his friends in action in the kitchen. But it was really special to be the one in charge. Jude spent the whole morning in the kitchen with me while the other kids rotated through. He was so excited! 

We are supposed to cook one of their favorite meals so I went with tacos, a big hit in this household. The idea is also to expose the kids to new flavors since it is such an international mix. I gave the kids the tasks of shredding lettuce, cutting cherry tomatoes, adding the meat to the pan, setting up the rice cooker, mixing and stirring the spices and finally, making guacamole. The range of behaviors and abilities in the group is striking and I left feeling very thankful that Jude is our toddler! The kids were so cute. While they were helping, they would be sneaking food. Stuffing their little mouths with cherry tomatoes and eating lettuce like little rabbits! I loved it. 

Shredding lettuce

A selfie with my little helper. I promise he was really happy to have me there, he just hates having his picture taken!

Note the green face. Little guacamole fiends! 

The teachers make Friday meals special for the kids with fancy table cloth (perhaps not the best choice on taco day...), matching hedgehog plates, bowls and fancy cutlery. They serve them minuscule portions as they know that the kids may not like the new foods. Many kids went back for seconds so it seemed like a hit. And if they finish their food or eat enough, they are offered dessert. We had baked a mini pear pie the night before and it was tasty! Again, it was fun to watch the others kids eat and compare behaviors. 

Eagerly waiting to come in for lunch.

The spread

At school, there is a section of one of the rooms with little cots. I got to help Jude into bed. He stripped to his undies, crawled into the sheet sack, bundled up with his blanket and night night! A busy morning in the kitchen wore him out!