Smarter People Than Me….

I have a confession to make.  I’m not great about what the baby eats.  I’m not awful, but  I could definitely do better.  Last week, I realized that she was living on a diet of breast milk, cheerios, and Lucky Charms plus whatever the rest of us eat for dinner.  She would get hungry, and I would tell one of her siblings “Can you put her in her high chair and give her something to eat while I teach your brother math?”  The big-ish kids would plop her in her seat and pour some kind of cereal on the tray.  It was quick and easy, and I totally get it.  That doesn’t make it right.

I have dreams and aspirations of being the mom who feeds her darlings only organic and always healthy food.  I’d like them to be the kids who eat kale and beets, but that’s not how we roll.  My picky eaters have tiny appetites.  That means that if I want to feed the baby mango, for instance, she eats maybe 1/4 of it and the rest goes bad (unless I eat it.  I’m tired of being the clean up crew.)

I was standing in the grocery store last week with #4, who is 8, fondling the produce and day dreaming about being the “perfect mom.”

“I just wish there were a way to keep these from going bad.” I told her as I looked at the strawberries “You, #1, and the baby like them, but they always get fuzzy before they get eaten.  I just hate the waste.”

She just gave me her one-eyebrow skeptical look.  She’s a master at it.  “You could use baggies,” she offered.

“It doesn’t work.” I told her.” They get forgotten in the fridge then and slime up, or, if I leave them out, they turn to mush.  I just wish we could make it economical to eat the way I want to feed you.”  Then I sighed one of those big dramatic sighs.  “There has to be a way of them not going bad.  You know?”

She thought for a bit and said “You could put them in the fridge.”

“No.” I told her.  “Things get lost in there.  If we don’t eat produce in the first 2-3 days, it’s not getting eaten.”

“You could freeze it.”

I thought for a moment…”I. could. freeze. it.  You’re a genius!  I’ll call you Grandma D when we get home.  She was a farmer’s wife.  I’m sure she knows how to do it.  Blanching, boiling, straight freezing.  When there’s a will there’s a way!  This is why I bring you shopping with me!” I did a little jig of joy right there in the produce department.

She stood there staring at me for a moment.

“Mom,” she said.  “Couldn’t you just buy it already frozen?”

yeah….I guess I could.