Once upon a time, a toddler called Little Lady sat on her back doorstep and lifted the lid of a sensory small world, her little garden. Earlier that morning, she sat curled up on Parent-in-Chief’s lap reading Sylvia by Christine Sharp. Jabbing at the pictures and babbling loudly over Parent-in-Chief’s attempt to do justice to the lyrical acrobatics of Sylvia snail professing through her silvery trail, her unwavering love for Simon Green’s greens.
Eventually, Parent-in-Chief decides that the Little Lady clearly had her own stories to tell of quibbling pushy potatoes, sulky strawberries and friends. The Toddler Garden Story Box is born. Rice dyed brown is put in an up-cycled food container. The veggies and fruit are painted stones. Wool is threaded through pom poms to make Fluffy Caterpillar. And the labour of love, the centrepiece, the chilli plant is made of woven bottle brushes, embroidery thread and felt.
And so, on that doorstep, the Little Lady dug a hole and planted her chilli tree. This is what happened next.
Emotions are running high mid-disagreement, and Clownish Cucumber tries to lighten the mood. He’s cool like that. Pushy Potato rolls her eyes.
Fluffy Caterpillar weighs in. He is all up in Pudsy Potato’s face.
But Parent in Chief forgot to put eyes on Fluffy Caterpillar so it is entirely conceivable that he’s trying to diffuse the situation with the most fluffy shimmy.
The chilli plant rises above it all, well not really. She digs her heals in.
And so it goes on, with the Little Lady planting and harvesting her potatoes, cucumbers and strawberries while discussing the meaning of life with her fluffy caterpillar, as toddlers do.
