The Orange Juice Experiment

This is one of the many reasons why I am glad to stay at home with my children. My daughter took her time to get out of bed this morning (she is her mother's child) and I decided that as we were already running late for her pre-school we may as well just be late, slow down and enjoy the morning. After all, she will soon be out of pre-school and into kindergarten where leisurely mornings will be a thing of the past.

This is a small part of our morning -: The Orange Juice Experiment.

In getting breakfast together for my littlest one I cut up some orange pieces for him, made him some toast and gave him some yogurt with a glass of store bought O.J on the side. Breakfast is a big meal in our house -- well for the kids it is. I'm doing well if I have a bite of toast and a glass of something. As I was sitting with my sweet little boy, enjoying his smile, I was inspired.

I wondered -- had Maggie ever seen how to get juice from an orange? Lemons, yes, but orange juice? Does she even really understand the concept of orange juice from a bottle being squeezed out of an orange? Maybe, but probably not. So after Maggie finally got out of bed and dressed for the day (this is after playing in her room and reading two books with me and Ryan) we were in the kitchen and I told her I had something really cool to show her.

I opened the fridge door and pulled out an orange. I asked her, "What is this called?" She looked at me puzzled and said in a giggly voice, "It's an orange mummy." I then cut the orange in half and showed her the center, "Look at the inside Maggie, isn't it pretty? Do you see all the segments? These two halfs make one whole orange, look see -- two halfs make one orange."

"Oh yeah ..." she said, still a little perplexed about what was going to be so cool. "Now watch this." I pulled out my hand juicer put one half orange on top, pushed down and squeezed. The juice came pouring out like water from a tap. She giggled some more and let out an expletive "wow! Mummy! Look at all the juice! Be careful mummy. You're spilling some. Oh wow! So juicy."

She then helped me pour the juice we collected from the two half into a clean glass and we sampled it. It wasn't bad, a little tart. We then grabbed another glass and poured in the O.J. from the store. Maggie noticed they differed slightly in colour and declared that the store orange juice tasted much better and decided to extend the experiment further. "I know mummy. I've got a great idea. Lets mix the two up together." And so we did. The tartness of the fresh orange juice engulfed the flavor of the store bought juice and Maggie was no longer interested in sampling anything more other than the store's juice.

She was so cute and unbelievable excited about the whole experiment. She finished her breakfast, packed her "story bag" (a bag filled with toys to make up a story with) and we were off -- an hour later than what we were scheduled but it didn't matter. We made a super start to the day and had some fun of our own. Maggie learned where orange juice comes from and that two halfs make up one whole, that fresh squeezed has a slightly different colour to the bottled kind and most importantly -- the store bought kind with the added calcium just tasted better. Who'd have thought ...