Tea Time

My daughter is three.  She loves tea.  Very few humans can spend more than 20 minutes in our house without finding themselves perched precariously on one of her tiny chairs.  She will serve you "tea" in a pink plastic cup with matching saucer, the teapot singing "It's a Small World" with each tilt of its handle.  If you are lucky, you will also get a plate of snacks, such as plastic grapes, pickles, maybe even a turkey leg.  If there are more than two for tea, she will gladly drag an extra tiny chair from her brother's room.  And my son, well, he's just along for the ride.  He has grown to enjoy these forcible tea parties but has learned to put his own rowdy boy stamp on the event.  He will loudly slurp his designated cup of air, slam in down onto the table, and then toss it against the wall while shouting "Crash!"  Maybe he was a Wild West cowboy in a past life.  If he is feeling particularly energetic, he will clear the whole table in one fail swoop, with lots of shouting and laughing.  Of course, this sends my daughter into hysterics, but he's not really concerned about that.  That's what you get for inviting him to the party!
Sometimes if I'm feeling particularly benevolent, I'll serve them real animal crackers and fruit-flavored tea or juice.  They are always thrilled with this and there is not nearly so much "crashing." 
We have gone to a lot of tea  parties this year and each was certainly a fun and special treat.  But, she still seems thrilled with her own little table filled with a stuffed turtle, a couple of bears, maybe a baby doll or two, and even a rowdy baby brother.