Tag Archives: food

The Hunger Games – or Why My Paycheck is Direct Deposit Straight to Costco

SEARCH AND DESTROY ALL THE FOOD STUFFS!

The muppets can Pack. It. Down. Here is a sampling of our weekend menu. (As a reminder, Destroy weighs 28 pounds; Search is 23.) I do not know where they are putting it. Continue reading

7 Comments

Lessons Learned

I’ve been told I was a bit mischevious as a small person – determined, independent with a wee bit of a stubborn streak. But come on, does that picture say anything other than sweet and innocent little angel to you?

This evening I learned the past is never far behind us… Continue reading

8 Comments

Sign of the Times

As I started to write this post, I took a look back at where we were last year. Obviously, the muppets were very tiny and our journey was just beginning. At the time, just over a week into their little lives, we were already fiercely focused on food. Continue reading

1 Comment

Out Damned Sippy Cup

“In the Hall of the Mountain Kings” was humming in the background when I said goodnight to the boys. Both of them were still awake. They sat up in their cribs, eyeing me. It was a Wild West standoff. I stood in front of them – sippy cups in hand; they stared back – howls of protest filling their lungs. Continue reading

6 Comments

Wipe the Smirk Off Your Face

I had a fully zen moment after an afternoon spent at the spa. (A bit of personal relaxation enjoyed despite Scout’s best efforts.)

Destroy refused to focus on the actual spoonfuls of food in front of him. He’s currently exhibiting an odd fascination with the taste and texture of his bib. Unfortunately, this creates a very avant garde style: vegetable sleeves with pureed face mask. Jon’s patience is wearing thin with the secret handshake motions of pulling the bib away, wiping his face, turning to give his brother a spoonful, realizing Destroy has grabbed the bib again, attempting to scoop the dribbles of mashed baby food off the kid and then repeating the entire process.

Continue reading

2 Comments

In Which She Burns the Chicken

Any story that begins “It seemed like a good idea at the time…” usually isn’t going to result in a tale that has gone exactly according to plan.

I was feeling daring this evening. Jon said he’d just pick up something quick from the store for dinner. But no, I wanted to make chicken piccata. I found a recipe and laid out all my ingredients neatly across the counter. The garlic and olive oil began sizzling in the skillet and the kitchen filled with delicious scents of a culinary master. I had mouth-watering visions of the Cheesecake Factory dish – buttery angel hair pasta mixed in a lemon caper sauce coating thinly cut, melt-in-your-mouth, pan-seared chicken medallions. It seemed like such a good idea…

Then the fire alarm went off.

Jon put the muppets to bed while I pulled the dish from piles of parsley and caper ash and scraped charcoal off the chicken pieces. We sat down to eat and began sawing away at the meat before gnawing on the dry chicken for a bit. Swallow. The pasta was sticky and bland. Jon tried to make the best of it. “Well, I can tell that under better circumstances this could have potential.” This is what I get for trying to be domestic.

Yesterday, one of our little friends posted a story about an unfortunate blueberry experience. In an effort to avoid blowout inducing oatmeal, her mother thought a homemade banana/blueberry baby puree smoothie seemed like such a good idea… A bad blend of the blueberries led to a very cranky little one and a significant amount of arfing. This was followed by Pedialyte to sooth her upset tummy. (With both the berries and beverage being a lovely purplish stain tint when it is regurgitated back up onto a parent’s clothing and furniture.)

So far, the muppets have had meals of milk and the occasional bowl of rice cereal (mixed with milk). These recent (less than) successful mealtime experiments made me realize that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing when it comes to establishing a timeline of solid food introduction for the boys.

Earlier this week, Search and Destroy ate their rice cereal like it was the most amazing thing in the world. They absolutely inhaled it. Destroy would open his eyes and mouth wide as soon as you brought the spoon back up from the bowl. Search was giggling hysterically; then he figured out how to blow raspberries once successfully taking in a full bite of cereal.

What foods did your kids like best? When did you start introducing what? What the heck am I supposed to be doing?

So far, I’ve learned:

  • Don’t attempt to prepare homemade baby food. I’m not that talented.
  • Bad blueberries are a bad idea – both for babies and everything within their projectile puking range.
  • Duck and cover when Search has a mouthful of rice cereal.
  • If I think, “This seems like a good idea,” it is most likely decidedly not.

6 Comments