Monday, March 26, 2012

You Know You're a Mom Monday

Mondays are now my day to celebrate motherhood, especially the silly and wonderful nuances of parenting a tiny one (or more than one tiny, when the day comes.) We'll be posting silly thoughts and pictures, momentous occasions and recipes for the hard-of-cooking (that's me).
 
Installment #1:
You know you're a mom...

When your idea of shoe shopping is looking for the other one.
Seriously. Where does he go with these? They don't even fit him.

[Please submit your "You Know You're a Mom If/When..." ideas to sarah@thewellhub.com. Can't wait to hear them. And don't worry. You will be credited by name and blog site.] 


And now for food. 

I don't know about you, but on days with my son, (that's Saturday, Sunday and Monday for me), I find myself completely shocked by the fact that we both have to eat...again...three times a day. Drat. My brain shrinks. I can only think of two foods, and he just ate them at the last meal. Bananas and hot dogs it is.


In one of my perfect worlds where my child is bilingual and born playing jazz piano, we are a little bit French and the well-behaved young one sits down to an adult meal of something from the Julia Child's cookbook. The moral of the story: he eats the same food we do, but smaller bites, smaller portions. 

Dinner time at the Siders. The turkey sandwich properly dissected by John David, the deli meat is now being mashed between his fingers. Knowing the difference between food and toys is not his strong point.

But in the world where I currently reside, my child still speaks a mix of Baby and a bit of barely intelligible English. It is apparent from his scheduled squealing that he must eat. And because I am usually the only adult around (when Josh is gone), I must feed him. And alas, I do not own the ingredients in the Julia Child's cookbooks. I cannot pronounce them. And I do not even enjoy cooking. These are the facts.


I need ideas for these times. A plan for ahead. I have to realize that the same thing happens every day, that we always need to eat and that's not going to change. Here are some of the tried-and-true meals I can pull together before the baby loses his marbles in a hunger tantrum on the linoleum.

Fruits:                       Veggies:                     Breakfast:              Entrees:
Apples                        Carrots                       Eggs                       Mac n Cheese
Bananas                     Peas                          Yogurt                     Cheese Quesadilla
Grapes                       Broccoli                      Cheerios                 Turkey dogs
Pineapple                                                                                     Pasta
Strawberries                                                                  

I would love to have more options than these, but this is about it. If you're a mom with good ideas and food plans, I would love to hear from you. Unless you speak French and want to judge me.  

Leave your foodie ideas in the Comments below. John will really appreciate it.
 
Sitting at the table. This is still rare for many reasons, one of which is that his bum is magnetically opposed to the seat. About 60 seconds after this picture was snapped, he weezled his way off the seat and fell backward on the floor. Sad baby. 



5 comments:

Lindsey said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lindsey said...

Here are some ideas from us. Sarah was a super picky eater but has gotten better recently. By no means does she eat well, but it's better than a few months ago when all she would eat were hot dogs (turkey dogs) and crackers.

Breakfast: Oatmeal(instant), yogurt, nutri-grain bars, scrambled eggs, waffles/pancakes (I make big batches and freeze them, they reheat well in a toaster/toaster oven.)

Snacks: yogurt covered raisins, craisins, regular raisinss, (sensing a theme?) goldfish, crackers of any kind but she really likes wheat thins, fruit snacks (even better if they are Disney princess ones), GoGoSqueez Applesauces (really good for them and really tasty)apples, bananas, bell pepper slices,cucumber slices, grapes, freeze dried fruit (new snack we discovered at Wal-mart in applesauce aisle.)

Lunch/Dinner: mini lunchables (they have ones with ritz bitz crackers, cheese, and tiny cubes of meat or cookies. 2 for $2) These are Sarah's new favorite and a fall back if I can't get her to eat anything else, hot dogs, mac and cheese, pasta with butter and parmesan cheese, pot roast, pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, tacos (cheese on a tortilla, chicken nuggets/tenders/strips

That's all I can think of right now. These are things she has eaten before and liked, not that they are all regular items on our menu. She goes through phases and totally loves something one day and hates it the next. Hope that's a good starting point.

Sarah Siders said...

Lots of great ideas here. Thanks, Lindsey. John isn't picky at all so you'd think it would be easy. He doesn't do complex food with lots of flavor but anything basic he is game for. The snack ideas are great and I'd like to think outside the box for lunch and dinner. Pork tenderloin sounds yummy. Tacos too. Thank you for all the ideas.

Debbie M said...

Don't forget PB+J and grilled cheese. Sierras diet is very much the same as your little one and I have come to be ok with that as she is.
How do I know it is a Mommy Monday? When people at work ask me what I did over the weekend and I have a blank look on my face because I honestly cannot remember anything!

Sarah Siders said...

Thanks, Debbie. Great point - sometimes we have to be okay with things as they are and figure out what's most important. I like your How do you know you're a mom idea. I'll be using it. Thank you. :)