Fun with Food

Zander loves food!  We knew this even before we met him - our 1/4/10 post mentions that Zander's eight month status report highlighted that "he likes it when the table is set with food."

Last week Zander had lunch with Amy's team at Medtronic.  Before the meal, he was delighted to receive his first food-themed toy from Amy's boss Jan - a talking toy pot complete with five healthy ingredients and a fun mixing spoon:

"Potsy," as he is called, has a great sense of humor - Mommy and Daddy find his witty sayings quite entertaining (e.g. "I like it healthy, I like it green, I'm a broccoli machine!").  At first, Zander was a little shy about playing with his new toy after opening it in Jan's office:

After a yummy lunch in the cafeteria, however, Zander was ready to show Potsy off to Sara, Becky and Jean (photographer):

Another highlight of Zander's office visit was getting his first autograph!  He brought in his August issue of Shape magazine to have it autographed by Amy's teammate Jennifer who had a full-page feature published about her accomplishments related to healthy eating and fitness.  She also was featured in a very inspiring interview with our local WCCO TV network - congratulations Jennifer!!!

Zander has enjoyed exploring our vegetable garden this summer - at times, he even helped harvest.  Here he is showing off one of the first zucchinis of the season:

Zander always enjoys the challenge of carrying large objects - this big cantaloupe was no match for him!

Daddy recently underestimated Zander's manual dexterity when he gave him a sealed box of noodles to play with:

Zander had a blast attending our neighborhood National Night Out party earlier this month.  On the walk home, he enjoyed his first slice of watermelon (vs. a bite-size piece).  The juice soaked his outfit in no time as he giggled happily in his wagon.  Near  home, Mommy and Daddy noticed Zander had become very quiet... sure enough, we found that he had the full watermelon rind in his mouth!  Daddy, didn't you tell him not to eat the rind??!!  Here is Zander shortly before the watermelon incident: