Too much Chicken in your Nugget

A few weeks ago, after swim lessons on a Friday night, I really wanted to not make dinner. I really love going out to eat. I am eagerly awaiting the time my kids are old enough to know what a treat it is instead of some type of weird delayed gratification training. 

Side story, we were taking my grandmother out of eat a few years ago at the local country club. Don't be too impressed, its a small town country club so it's definitely nice, but its not a country club like those you would find in large cities. I asked a little bitty two year old L what she would for dinner and she gave her one and only response, Mac Cheese. So that's what we ordered. It might be a small town country club, but its still frowned up to throw your food on the floor if you dislike it so it was based to stick with what she liked. L was very hungry that night. She had given me her order then looked at me expectantly. I told her someone was making it and it would be ready in a minute or two and handed her some crayons. She looked confused and a bit angry and said more loudly, MAC CHEESE MOMMY. At this point I realized she was expecting me to leave the table and go make it, the concept of eating out was not computing. It was a tenuous wait for the wait staff to return with dinner and I realized my adorable little girl already saw me as short order cook.  

Fast forward 3 years and an additional picky eater and we are headed to Fuzzy's Tacos for dinner. The restaurant had several things going for it.

1. The tacos are super good.
2. They have unlimited chips.
3. They serve cheese quesadillas and french fries.
4. They serve chicken nuggets and french fries.
5. The restaurant is LOUD so no one will notice us.

L was happily chowing down on her quesadilla and M was mostly happily eating her chicken nuggets. For whatever reason, my husband mentioned that he really liked that the chicken strips were obviously pieces of chicken breast and not a weird mix of odd meat and pieces. M stopped eating and looked at him. She looked at her chicken nugget. She slowly put it down and declares, "There too much chicken in my nugget." There was no coming back. She licked ketchup off her fries and ate chips the rest of the night. But the chicken she did eat was actually probably chicken!  

Bonus of having two picky eaters is that I only need to share the guacamole with my husband.

Slow Sloth Steps

When we found out we were having a baby I made one of those ridiculous mental declarations, the kind you know are so outlandish you dare not say them out loud or else everyone would remind you later of what you had declared. I mentally declared I would be a cool, relaxed, non-anxious mom that just went with things. Basically, I would have a child and do a complete 180 in personality all at the same time. That's how major change normally affects people, right? Our natural tendencies just give way and we become zen...poof, done.

Five years and now two kids later, turns out I'm still kind of bossy, a bit of a control freak, and have less patience than my three year old. But, if my friends and family wanted a zen, centered, peaceful goddess they most certainly would not be friends with me. Either that or I'm the friend that everyone uses as a baseline and I'm ok with that, we all have our purposes in life.

Sometimes, while tallying defeats, it is important to acknowledge a win. It may not be the win I was hoping for, but its a win none the less. (Something else that hasn't changed since having kids is my inability to set realistic goals for myself). Regardless, this one was pointed out with such complete and utter astonishment that I can't deny it.

We had a routine on Friday nights, the girls had swim lessons then we would meet up with a friend and go out to eat. Some how this single man honestly enjoys eating dinner in public with two small children. Around the holidays we fell out of our routine. Just a few weeks ago we met for dinner to catch up. About half way though dinner he literally exclaimed "Oh my god, I can't believe how well M is eating! I've never seen her eat this much before!" M was eating chicken strips, AGAIN, but she was eating them, all on her own. I'm fairly certain my husband and I hadn't recognize any change at all, but he was right, she was eating, without negotiations, bribery or coercion. 

This was a different meal, but it involved laughing and singing which I much prefer to sobbing and screaming. I'm not sure the surrounding tables enjoy either.

This isn't a huge win except it kind of is. M is still a ridiculous picky eater. Grandma stocks chicken nuggets at her house because even cheese quesadillas are out of the question, but we all buy different brands of nuggets so there is some variety in that, right? It is agonizingly slow, sloth-like steps, but there are steps being taken. She is walking, talking proof that you can live on chicken nuggets, pizza and fruit alone. I'm a little biased, but I think she's super smart too.

Just the other day I caught her stuffing Kleenex up her nose because it was "wunny." She has the same problem solving skills as the Office Manager at work and she's only three! She's obviously a genius, there must be something in those nuggets.

Eh, It was Alright

As the weather cools off, then gets blazing hot, it becomes possible to enjoy the outdoors again. St. Louis has its issues, as any city does, but it has some amazing qualities and attractions too. If, for example, you wanted to exhaust your small children so there might be a faint possibility of them sleeping in on the weekend, it is easily accomplished. We attempted this over the weekend, with moderate success, 50% of the time.

L has started soccer, so our Saturdays now must involve a soccer game at some point. This weekend it was mid-day. L & M woke up bright and early around 7am because it was Saturday and not Monday-Friday when they sleep like little logs. They deemed it to be a waffle morning, so M and I headed down to start breakfast. There are few things in this world better than an agreeable 2 and 4 year old.

M cracked the egg for the waffles herself, significantly increasing the amount of calcium and crunch in our waffles...

L and Dad came down a bit later and started on the eggs and bacon. L filled up on eggs and waffles so she would have the energy her muscles needed to play in her game. For someone that spends a fair amount of the game literally twirling round the field, she takes her pregame nutrition very seriously. (I LOVE her game twirling, I'm not being critical at all, it is adorable). After breakfast we headed out for our day.

The soccer game was first and L did amazingly well. To quote her coach, "L actually RAN today!" She needs time to take it all in, by the end of the season, she'll be in the herd with the rest of the kids, maybe. We left the game and headed to a neighborhood festival to grab some lunch and check out the festivities. There were a lot of festivities and awesome (free) crafts. Unfortunately, between the game and the early wake up, L passed out pretty quick.

L was out cold for lunch, she was none too pleased with us when we woke her up.

We ended up at a veggie/vegan restaurant, which is a little outside our normal dining fare but we were hungry so, eat or starve. They had a kids menu, it had nuggets on it, Moose was thrilled. We decided not to inform her they were cauliflower nuggets, maybe she wouldn't notice? Turns out she didn't, that kid loves cauliflower nuggets. Half of me was thrilled she was eating a vegetable, and the other half realized she'd just discovered a lower calorie, lower fat, lower protein alternative to one of three foods she will eat. I tried to celebrate the first half.

We finally woke L up so she could eat. We figured she would be fine with the nuggets, if M ate them surely L would be ok with it. Not a chance. She didn't want the nuggets, she didn't want tater tots she didn't want anything, maybe to go back to sleep. But, since we had awakened her, there was no chance of that.

We finished out our day with a St Louis FC game. It was the last home game of the season so there were fireworks afterwards. With cousins and other kids there it was a pretty awesome way to end our day. As we were loading the girls into the car that night, I asked L if she had enjoyed her day. Her response, "Eh, it was alright. What can we do tomorrow?" The bar has been raised...