egg drop soup

Jesse doesn't like eggs, but he likes egg-drop soup.  Today he woke from his nap grumpy.  He stalked the house with a scowl on his face, head tilted down, eyes looking up menacingly for a four year old.

I suggested that we go fishing, and the scowl faded away.  We went outside to find worms.  Each rotting log was a small adventure with all sorts of odd living creatures under it.  We scampered from log to log until we had collected a dozen or so worms, got our tackle together, and headed off to the river with a candy bar.

Ever the negotiator, he asked for three junior mints on the five minute drive to the river and finally settled for one.  I had three.  We walked to our favorite spot and sat down on a rock in the misting rain, not really fishing, but hanging out.  We ate our candy bar and caught a ridiculously small fish.  Getting restless, we decided to put our rods aside and go exploring in the woods.  Jesse is a master mushroom spotter and we went mushroom hunting, enjoying the different shapes and sizes.  We threw rocks in the river.  After a while we both got hungry and left for home where I got out a can of chicken noodle soup.  Jesse suggested that I drop an egg into it.  I asked him how I should do that and he said to mix it up first, so I gave him a whisk and a bowl with an egg and he whisked it and then poured it into the soup while I mixed.  The picky eater devoured the soup, which also had just the noodles from a packet of ramen.

After lunch the day dragged and Jesse and his sister quarreled.  Jesse's bad mood returned.  I was saved by a phone call from a new friend with a daughter, Emily, aged between Jesse and Amy.  Jesse was jealous, as Emily is a girl from Amy's school, and thus really a friend of Amy's, not Jesse's. 

Somehow, even at their young ages, chemistry took over and the three of them played happily together dressing up, exploring the yard, and finally collapsing in front of a movie.  Emily didn't want to go home so I prepared dinner for the kids.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with honey, and chicken noodle egg-drop soup, a la Jesse, who is always full of surprises.