A Resounding Vote for "Starve"

We've fallen off the wagon a bit, or completely really. With just about everyone being under the weather, the thought of arguing about eating with two kids was entirely too overwhelming. We are all feeling better, thank you amoxicillin and sleep. I decided to celebrate with a new recipe and a renewed energy for Eat or Starve. 

Most Pinterest recipes are pretty good. There is almost always room for tweaking which I appreciate. Tonight's adventure was Chicken, Apple, Sweet Potato, Brussels Sprout Skillet. Its fall, what could be better? We have been attempting to eat less meat in our house and, given this recipe also called for bacon, I figured it was a good time to try some veggie chicken. Bacon covers a multitude of taste sins. I am aware that I am completely missing the point by doing this.

Recipe from www.wellplated.com, they have better pictures too.

M didn't even wait for me to put the meal on plates before announcing, "No! Not that! I no eat that!" L was a bit more reserved but obviously skeptical. I was with them. I giant bowl of mac and cheese sounded significantly better to me than this veggie laden fake chicken creation. However, you must never admit defeat so we soldiered on to the dinner table. L sat down and tried some potato (actually apple) and carrot (actually sweet potato). She agreed that it wasn't horrible, but she didn't really want to eat any more of it. I asked her to try some chicken. She agreed, with the condition she could switch to mac and cheese afterward. We settled on one piece of chicken and two more bites of veggies. L bit into the "chicken" and gave us a "What exactly are you trying to pull here?" look, but she finished it and moved on to mac and cheese. M was not so agreeable.

This was never going to happen, actual tears were shed. M ate a peanut butter sammich, yogurt and strawberries. Not a bad dinner for her. I'm not really sure if we lost the battle to win the war or if we are just losing both the battle and the war. I do know that it is not a question that will be answered on Sunday night.

Tomorrow night: Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Vegetables. We will be using real chicken. I'm sure we will have left overs on small colorful plastic plates if anyone wants to join us.

All We Need Is Love & Tylenol

M is still under the weather. She is just sick enough to feel great as long as the Tylenol is working. I wonder if they make a toddler version of some type of extended release medication, a Tylenol XR. I need to investigate this, possibly invent it.

I had to fill out some forms a few days ago that required me to count the number of years I had been in school. Turns out it is 18; my education level is allowed to vote and buy cigarettes. I guess if you count kindergarten and preschool I might as well go back for one more year so my diploma can order a beer. My student loans make so much more sense now..

I'm getting off topic. My degrees are in what I refer to as warm and fuzzy things, psychology and social work. This is completely unfair of me, there is a lot of science and research in these fields. My psych degree took a surprising amount of science and anatomy classes. But, its not degrees in something like architecture or engineering. Those are not warm or fuzzy subjects, those are concrete situations, no pun intended. You fake those and your buildings fall down, your bridges do a sine wave, which will make you famous, but not for the right reasons. Check out the YouTube videos of the Tacoma Bridge collapse, its awesome that a bridge can move like that, but only if it is designed to, significantly less exciting if its by accident then collapses.

I tend to forget that I have spent a lot of time in classrooms delving into some pretty specific things. I normally assume that if I know something, its probably common knowledge. I'm reminded every so often that my assumptions are not accurate. I've also learned that my brain is a unique place to live, thanks Myers-Briggs.

I was watching M flop around on the bed today, trying to get comfy and find a less achy position. I found myself softening as I watched her little self fidget and wiggle. I asked her to come sit with me. She crawled over and snuggled in immediately. It reminded me of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Basically, as humans, we have some basic needs that must be met before we can worry about other stuff. Our physical needs (food, water, etc) need to be met before we worry about our safety. Once we are fed and safe, we start to think about relationships, how we fit in with others, how we view ourselves and so on. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it and if I explained it better. This is why we have Google.

M self snuggled while I changed so we could run to Target for diapers. Speaking of, there should be a drive thru diaper store, maybe one that sells Tylenol XR.

M snuggled in, she had her Tylenol, her mommy, and a belly full of chicken nuggets. Her physiological needs and her needs for safety were met, she felt loved. She was set as far as a toddler goes but it made me ponder how much nicer the world would be if we all looked for ways to help each other feel a bit more secure. High fives are totally not cool, but maybe a little more proverbial high fives and bit less climb over anyone who can help you get to the top the fastest. Or, I'm just sleep deprived and have been in the house with a feverish toddler for a few too many hours.

It takes a Village...

...to get M to eat two chicken nuggets. 

Our house has been hit by some variation of the plague. Its the version where you feel just bad enough to want to sleep all day and night but your kids feel just bad enough to never sleep, day or night. There is a nice balance or symmetry in that, maybe it's irony. It is obviously something I will find more humorous at a later date.

M and I both weren't feeling great so I worked from home yesterday and she helped me appreciate the fact I'm not normally a work-from-home or stay-at-home mom. (Please don't read that as a judgement on either of those moms. I admire anyone that can stay at home with kids, their own or someone else's, and not lose their minds. If you can stay at home with your kids and still get outside work done, you're one step down from a magician as far as I'm concerned).

M was honestly fantastic. She worked on her 'puter for a while next to me, we sang the "A B C D's" and other songs while I worked on my spreadsheets. I had a delightfully entertaining conversation with M while the IT guy was on the phone, about puzzles and mermaids, he was thrilled I could tell. But mostly, the day reminded me what she an awesome little person she is.

It's important to trace your toes every so often while at work.

It was a good day as far as working-from-home-while-not-feeling-good-with-a-toddler days go, but by the time dinner rolled around, my patience for negotiation was completely gone. Hot dog or nuggets; pick one, we have things to do. There was an ice cream fundraiser we needed to get to and it seemed like Ice Cream for Dinner was a precedent I didn't want to set.

L eventually grumbled her way though a hot dog, grapes and milk. M downed her grapes and milk and refused to touch the nuggets she had so adamantly needed a few minutes earlier. I committed a giant parenting error earlier in declaring "No ice cream if you don't eat your dinner!" Why do I say things? Enter part of our village! The lady that formally ran our little day care stopped by and, like magic, M agreed to eat her nuggets. She ate them so we couldn't feel them to our dogs, her sister, really anyone else we could think of to offer nuggets to. Turns out she didn't really want them, but more importantly, she didn't want anyone else to have them either.

Dinners eaten, visiting done, we took off for ice cream. Everyone enjoyed their flavor of choice with no negotiations or bribing needed. I wish you could make delicious ice cream out of broccoli, but I'll be happy there is calcium, protein and calories in it as is, plus it doesn't taste like broccoli.

Funny People

Today's brief story comes from people way funnier than me. The photo is L and her second cousin at the 94th birthday party last weekend. The caption is by my cousin, pure genius I tell you. 

My cousin envisioned this being the end of this conversation:

     R:  Really?
     L:  Yes!.. I would not kid you about this.
     R:  Eat... or...
         < interrupting >
     L:  Starvvvvvve

Tomorrow is Friday so you know what that means, Panera magic is happening right now at my house. Maybe it has nothing to do with the booth and everything to do with the white bread and non-all natural peanut butter. Regardless, its a good night.

Mixing & Matching

We celebrated my grandmother's 94th birthday this weekend. Family flew in from far and wide to join in the festivities. With big families, there are always a myriad of different personalities. I have one cousin, in particular, that is incredibly high energy; she is as extroverted as they come. I am not; I'm not especially quiet or shy, but I prefer quiet, small groups, the edge of the party rather than the center. 

My cousin flew in Friday evening and stayed with us until Sunday afternoon. It was a phenomenal weekend of family and catching up. It was the perfect reminder that we are all a little bit of each other, mixed and matched to fit together into a family. While we all hold a lot of differing views and ideas, we are all related and therefore, we all love each other, even if "damnit" is sometimes added to the end of that sentence.

As we sat at dinner on Friday evening, I couldn't help but notice how enthusiastically my girls responded to my cousin. She was full of pep, stories, games, and energy. She never seemed to tire of their questions and stories and she never lost her patience. I wondered if my kids were missing out by me being so, me. Would they be happier with a mom that was funnier? Would they be more adventurous if I made their worlds more of an adventure and less of a routine? Would Eat or Starve even be a thing if I was always pushing new boundaries, and taking them to experience new things? I started to wonder what it would take to push me to that level. Did I have it in me to be that person if that's what my kids needed? (Side note:  I do not. And, anything that would get me to that level of extroversion cannot and should not be legal).

On Saturday we drove to the party. At the, probably joking, request of my Aunt we brought L's violin so she could give a "concert." The afternoon flew by with lots of cake and cupcakes ingested. A small group of 3 or 4 people were chatting with L toward the end of the party. She had taken out her violin and was getting ready to play. With her back turned toward the room, she didn't notice about 12 of us gathering around. She played her little I've-only-had-one-30-minute-lesson heart out for a few minutes. We all applauded. She turned around to look at us with a terrified expression and started sobbing.

Private concert, at home. We have been promised she will be playing Twinkle Twinkle by the end of the school year. I have nothing but admiration for her teacher.

I scooped her up into my lap. She was embarrassed by the attention, exhausted by the festivities, and on a nasty sugar high. We sat for a few minutes just being quiet. Finally she said she was feeling a little better and agreed to take a walk with her dad. I know L gets overwhelmed. She gets a little too in her own head for her own good, both her parents are like that as well.  I realized, as she sat with her little face buried in my shirt, she does need to be pushed and prodded to explore outside of her comfort zone, so do I. But, she also needs a quiet place to come back to when she needs it.

Some people feed off other people's energy, they are amazing to be around and can motivate entire groups to do things they would otherwise not do (aka family pictures) all while making it fun. Other people need stillness to re-energize.  One isn't better than the other, its just different. I wish I was more of an outgoing person, but I'm not. I can push myself to be more outgoing, but I will always need my down and alone time to re-center myself. My kids seem to be the same way. Turns out we were all mixed and matched together just perfectly.