"I Don't DO Greenbeans..."

A few weeks ago Gus announced to me, after I set down his dinner plate brimming with good food: "I don't do greenbeans Mommy." After I picked my mouth up off the floor, I tried to remind him that he loves green beans, that I made them his favorite way, that they were delicious, and that was what we had for dinner. Then battle royale began. Holy crap a three-year-old can put up a stink about the tiniest things! Since then dinner is sometimes a struggle with me luring Gus through it with promises of grand desserts, while his sister happily chows down on whatever is placed in front of her. I never saw this coming.

On a logical level, I understand this is more a struggle over power and control than one over the actual items on the plate. I can also see how these two very separate things, one emotional and one physical can become forever linked. This past weekend we spent with some Gus and Freja's cousins. Mealtimes were chaotic, and even though the coordinators of the weekend (the two Grandmas) tried their very hardest to present healthful, interesting foods, there was always someone not quite happy with the selection. One of the cousins in particular was so dissatissfied that alternative meals were needed to satisfy her. It was a bit eerie for me to see how an older child, who started out just like mine, saw food as something to wrestle over rather than savour and appreciate as a connector to the outer world.

It is a powerful thing to hunt for a zuchinni or potato in your garden with your child, bring it into the kitchen, turn it into dinner and then revel with them as the eat it and complete the cycle of seed to table. I feel very strongly about showing my children where their food comes from, how it can be prepared and demonstrating the benefits of making healthy choices. Although I sometimes wish it was easier, and took perhaps a little less time, it is those unexpected "Yums", and "More please", that keep me going. Just today Gus and Freja and I chowed down on corn, zuchinni, greenbean, and chicken stir-fry for lunch. Guess who was begging for the last green bean?

Eat well, be well.

Back in the Saddle, and Saddled up to the Table

And we are back. After a few very busy weeks preparing and celebrating my brother's wedding we return to life under the monkey tree. (For those of you not in the know our home is guarded by a giant monkey tree that serves as a landmark for anyone in the neighborhood.) It is good to be back, and feels cathartic to work out the kinks after odd bedtimes, various family and friends rotating through, and of course it is good to be back in my kitchen, cooking good food.

On the topic of celebrations and food I was reminded of a few things. First, young ones need to eat, as they say with voting in Chicago, "early and often". Both Gus and Freja did best when we prefed them before a gathering. Even if we were going to a "barbeque" we discovered that we could not just expect that they would get a well balanced meal in a different and often exciting environment. Often, they were so excited by their surroundings that they could not sit still long enough to eat, and if they did not get the calories they needed it meant we would be in for a long night and early morning focussed on food. Is it just us? Does anyone else have kids that wake up in the middle of the night asking for food? Granted, they both have been growing like weeds and playing outside hours on end, but come on! We finally settled on setting out a snack for Gus at night so that when he wakes up way to early he can eat something to keep him calm until the rest of the world is ready to rise and shine.

Second, chocolate is not all that it is cracked up to be. So if you read earlier posts you might recall that Gus had some pretty major food intolerances when he was tiny. Because of that we hit the books and read up on how foods affect kids at different ages etc, and one of the big decisions we made was NO CHOCOLATE. Now, I love chocolate, and need my daily fix, but when I read that children cannot digest chocolate until around age three I decided, why waste good chocolate on my kids? And the funny thing is that it became a joke between Gus and me, that he could have chocolate when he was a big kid, "like 5 or something". Well, I ended up making a killer groom's cake for my brother that was chocolate, Gus asked to try it and after a taste decided that he much preferred the orange buttercream frosting instead. HA!

Other news that is fit to print, blueberries are in around here. We picked our hearts out at Cascadian Farms last weekend. I cannot say enough about the health benefits of then for both the old and the young amoung us. Try reading Blueberries for Sal, and making jam together.

Eat well.