I have a confession to make.\u00a0 I\u2019m not great about what the baby eats.\u00a0 I\u2019m not awful, but\u00a0 I could definitely do better.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 She would get hungry, and I would tell one of her siblings \u201cCan you put her in her high chair and give her something to eat while I teach your brother math?\u201d\u00a0 The big-ish kids would plop her in her seat and pour some kind of cereal on the tray.\u00a0 It was quick and easy, and I totally get it.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t make it right.<\/p>\n
I have dreams and aspirations of being the mom who feeds her darlings only organic and always healthy food.\u00a0 I\u2019d like them to be the kids who eat kale and beets, but that\u2019s not how we roll.\u00a0 My picky eaters have tiny appetites.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I\u2019m tired of being the clean up crew.)<\/p>\n
I was standing in the grocery store last week with #4, who is 8, fondling the produce and day dreaming about being the \u201cperfect mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wish there were a way to keep these from going bad.\u201d I told her as I looked at the strawberries \u201cYou, #1, and the baby like them, but they always get fuzzy before they get eaten.\u00a0 I just hate the waste.\u201d<\/p>\n
She just gave me her one-eyebrow skeptical look.\u00a0 She\u2019s a master at it.\u00a0 \u201cYou could use baggies,\u201d she offered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t work.\u201d I told her.\u201d They get forgotten in the fridge then and slime up, or, if I leave them out, they turn to mush.\u00a0 I just wish we could make it economical to eat the way I want to feed you.\u201d\u00a0 Then I sighed one of those big dramatic sighs.\u00a0 \u201cThere has to be a way of them not going bad.\u00a0 You know?\u201d<\/p>\n
She thought for a bit and said \u201cYou could put them in the fridge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d I told her.\u00a0 \u201cThings get lost in there.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t eat produce in the first 2-3 days, it\u2019s not getting eaten.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could freeze it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought for a moment\u2026\u201dI. could. freeze. it.\u00a0 You\u2019re a genius!\u00a0 I\u2019ll call you Grandma D when we get home.\u00a0 She was a farmer\u2019s wife.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure she knows how to do it.\u00a0 Blanching, boiling, straight freezing.\u00a0 When there\u2019s a will there\u2019s a way!\u00a0 This is why I bring you shopping with me!\u201d I did a little jig of joy right there in the produce department.<\/p>\n
She stood there staring at me for a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cCouldn\u2019t you just buy it already frozen?\u201d<\/p>\n
yeah\u2026.I guess I could.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have a confession to make.\u00a0 I\u2019m not great about what the baby eats.\u00a0 I\u2019m not awful, but\u00a0 I could definitely do better.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 She would get hungry, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n