The Nuisance Across The Hall

Eight: Is a Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable?

     "What's do you think?" I asked her when I finished. Before she answered, the sheet fell in the middle and collapsed to the floor.

     "I think it's not really a fort." She told me, looking at the sheet on the floor.

     "Hold on a minute," I told her. I walked to my room to grab my textbooks. These will be heavy enough to keep the sheet in place.

     I placed the sheet back in its original position and quickly placed one textbook on each chair and on the back of the couch, preventing it from collapsing again.

     "Now it's a fort," I announced.

     "It's not done yet," Sophia said as she ran to her room. She came back with all of her pillows that were on her bed. She crawled into the fort and began organizing a pallet.

     While she began setting up our fort, I went to the kitchen and began making dinner. Sophia always liked spaghetti, so I decided that would suit the night perfectly.

     After throwing the ground beef into the pan, I heard Sophia turning on the TV. The theme song to Wild Kratts began playing. I'm glad she likes educational shows. I don't know what I'd do if all she watched was SpongeBob.

     Within a few minutes, the beef began sizzling. I grabbed a spatula and began mixing the beef around to help it cook faster.

     I grabbed a pot from the cabinet and filled it with water. Once I put the water on the stove, I grabbed some noodles and sauce out of the pantry.

     "Are you making spaghetti?" Sophia called from the living room. "I can smell it from here!" She added.

     "I hope you like broccoli in your spaghetti. It's very nutritious!" I called out, messing with my toddler.

     I heard her little feet start running to the kitchen. When she entered the entranceway to the kitchen, her face was stone cold.

     "You are not putting vegetables in pasta. That is wrong woman." She stated seriously. I hate to break the news to her, but who else was gonna do it.

     "You know the sauce in spaghetti is tomato sauce, right?" I told her.

     "Tomatoes are fruits, Mommy. Everybody knows that." She said, crossing her arms.

     "And what makes it a fruit?" I asked her since she wanted to be smart.

     "It's has seeds, duh!" She said like it was common knowledge.

     "Well, smartie pants, green beans have seeds. Cucumbers have seeds. Are those fruits too?" I asked her, placing my hand on my hip and raising an eyebrow.

     Her cheeks turned red and she diverted her eyes from mine. "Umm, I'm not sure." She admitted.

     "Always make sure to have evidence stacked in your corner when making an argument, sweetie," I told her and went back to cooking dinner. I don't care what people say. Tomatoes are vegetables, not fruit. And I am willing to die by that.

     Changing moods, she hopped next to me and asked, "Can I help cook?"

     "Do you really wanna help or do you just want to make sure I don't put broccoli in it?" I asked her.

     "Both!" She stated with a big goofy smile on her face. Her smiles were so contagious I couldn't help but smile too.

     Once I said yes, she grabbed her little white apron with gold pineapples on it and asked me to tie it behind her.