This summer, Madeline and I planted sunflower seeds outside the fence around our garden.  Madeline choose the tallest variety of sunflowers, and they were incredibly tall, as a picture below attests.  Watching the sunflowers grow from a small seed to a miraculous Jack and the beanstalk tall flower was rewarding for my young growers as well as myself, because I don't have much delay of gratification development.  

Several days it seemed they grew six inches a day.  There is some amount of faith required for a child to plant a seed.  In fact, our other children saw more purpose in playing on the play set, than in digging a small hole to deposit the little seeds and watering them in the hot summer weather.  

Madeline seems to have a natural ability to delay gratification.  I remember driving to visit my sister in Pittsburgh one summer, Madeline was 4 years old.  I gave both girls a pack of smarties.  Ella ate all within a couple of minutes.  Madeline ate two and saved the rest for later.  She will often save something so long she forgets that she has it. 

She enjoys work in the garden, almost intuiting the promise that lies several months down the road.  She told me when we started planting that she was more excited about planting the garden than she was about anything else (I think she included her birthday)

Ella enjoyed more of the garden this year, especially the mint-mango lassi's we made all summer.  I really enjoyed the time we spent outside together, inspecting the growth of the tomatoes, destroying the potato bugs, and watching everything grow.  The boys enjoyed dumping dirt from the beds onto the ground, pulling plants instead of weeds, and throwing tomatoes at each other (one of my most vivid memories of the garden as a child).

Mint-Mango Lassi:

mint leaves (about 1/2 cup)

1 cup ice

2 mangoes 

2 cups plain yogurt

1/4-1/2 cup sugar (or honey)

Blend well.