I’m a One-Trick Lunch Pony

This picture above, minus the green stuff (aka “healthy stuff”) = my children’s lunches for the past 180 days. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons license of Magzalez

When my daughter was 21 months, I feel that I gave her a pretty good variety of lunches – lentil, minestrone, vegetable soups, the odd PB&J or quesadilla, fresh vegetables, string cheese…

Now, we’re in a definite rut at our house. It’s basically all boiled down to… melted cheese.

My son is a pretty picky eater. He’s the 21 month old. You put anything in front of him that’s not:
A) a cheerio
B) a quesadilla or
C) a blueberry

and he just says “HOT!” and literally won’t even touch it.

I’ve been able to cajole him into trying the odd tortellini here and there, and he will take about 2 bites of PB&J before smearing it everywhere, but GONE are the days of any semblance of a balanced lunch.. much less breakfast or dinner.

My daughter, on the other hand, is becoming a great little eater. She will forage from a wide variety of foods throughout the day – eggs, apples, carrots, chicken, meatballs, sandwiches, etc.

My daughter will not eat the following, however:
lasagna (which she declared the day AFTER I made a triple batch that I froze in individual servings in the freezer)
yogurt
peanut butter / sun butter / apple butter and jelly sandwiches

For the past six months, it feels like, I have been giving my children quesadillas for lunch. HELP!

Any ideas / suggestions? What do you serve for lunch for your little children?

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Junk Food as Addictive as Heroin (?)

The research appears credible enough, though I think the headline / pitch of this article is sensationalist. Just another reason to watch out for how many cheetos and ho-ho’s I’m letting my children have. The trouble is that my son is a natural born junk foodie. He’s the second-born, which means that he’s been given access to sweet treats much earlier than his sister was. He sees her having the occasional cookie or cupcake and gets understandably upset. They’re so close in age (22 months apart) that it’s hard for him to see the difference between the two of them. When my daughter was young, we just didn’t have cookies around, but now it’s a small part of our world. I just wish the little dude didn’t get to partake!

Unlike my daughter, however, my son REALLY reacts to the cookies, or chips… basically anything “junk” related. He’s so keen on it that he’ll spot things in the supermarket we’ve never let near them (candy bars, gum, etc) and have little fits trying to get it. Of course we don’t buy it for him. Our #1 most basic rule is that if we don’t have it in the house, we can’t give it to the kids, so we just don’t keep much junk around.

So, here’s the report on addictive junk food. What do you think?

http://healthfreedoms.org/2010/03/30/scientists-claim-junk-food-is-as-addictive-as-heroin-2/

Image provided via Creative Commons License from Mauricesvay

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The Next Survivor Series

**I did not write this – it was forwarded to me via email BY MY HUSBAND NO LESS!!! – but I thought it was so accurate, I had to share… I’m short on time (for appropriate excuse, see below), so forgive the obvious bad line-breaks from multiple forwardings***

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES
Six married men
will be dropped on an island

with one car

and 3 kids each

for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports
and take either music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must

take care of his 3 kids;
keep his assigned house clean,
correct all homework,
complete science projects,
cook,
do laundry,
and pay a list of ‘pretend’ bills
with not enough money.

In addition,

each man 
will have to budget enough money
for groceries each week.

Each man 
must remember the birthdays
of all their friends and relatives,
and send cards out on time–no emailing.

Each man must also take each child
to a doctor’s appointment,
a dentist appointment
and a haircut appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and 
inconvenient visit per child to the Emergency Room..

He must also make cookies or cupcakes
for a school function.

Each man will be responsible for
decorating his own assigned house,
planting flowers outside, and keeping it
presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television

when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs,

wear makeup daily,

adorn themselves with jewelry,

wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes,

keep fingernails polished,

and eyebrows groomed

During one of the six weeks,

the men will have to endure severe
abdominal cramps, backaches, headaches,
have extreme, unexplained mood swings
but never once complain or slow down
from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings

and church,
and find time at least once to spend
the afternoon at the park or a similar
setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night

and in the morning,

feed them,

dress them, 
brush their teeth and 
comb their hair
by 7:30 am.

A test will be given

at the end of the six weeks,

and each father will be required to know

all of the following information:
each child’s
birthday,
height, weight,
shoe size, clothes size,
doctor’s name,
the child’s weight at birth,
length, time of birth,
and length of labor,
each child’s favorite color,
middle name,
favorite snack,
favorite song,
favorite drink,
favorite toy,
biggest fear,
and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance.

The last man wins only if….
he still
has enough energy
to be intimate with his spouse
at a moment’s notice.

If the last man does win,
he can play the game over and over and over
again for the next 18-25 years,
eventually earning the right
to be called Mother!

After you get done laughing,
send this to as many females as
you think will get a kick out of it and
as many men as you think can handle it.
Just don’t send it back to me….
I’m going to bed.

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