I had an idea about something to blog about when I was in the shower this morning (otherwise known as my 10 minutes of solitude throughout the day...it's kind of like a teacher who has her prep period during 1st period). But, whaddya know? I kinda forgot it. Real life happened and superfluous things don't always stick around indefinitely. But I sort of have a moment to myself right now, so I'm bound and determined to blog about something. Because I can. Bear with me (or don't read on--your choice!).
I'm eating brownies right now (yeah, 9:26 a.m.). Abby is eating an apple. I'm rather hiding in the kitchen while eating the brownies so that Abby doesn't realize the disparity taking place. Sneaky. I know that I'm not the only parent that does this.
I could write about all sorts of things, but they're almost all kid-related (yawn?), and none of them particularly pithy or extended. I just made a blog-executive decision and hereby declare that this will, indeed, be kid-oriented.
I'm not that literate about kids' tv shows, partly because we no longer have tv (whoa---mind boggling), so anything that Abby gets to watch is either streamed through Netflix or checked out from the library. To that extent, I sometimes find that Abby has become hooked on something from when she was at the sitter's that I have no concept of. Even when we did pay for tv, we still didn't watch any kids shows. Ever. Like not even once. We're very much the you-have-a-small-alotment-of-time-for-screen-activities-per-day kind of parents, and I highly recommend it. TV is a treat, not an expectation, and in general, we don't get sucked into branding. Have I mentioned that Abby has never seen a Disney movie??? (I think I did, but I don't want to check.) Is she missing out on some essential part of childhood? No. Am I glad that I watched movies and tv when I was little? I'm ambivalent. Abby gets enough of her fix of Little Einsteins (love), SuperWhy (love), Diego (ick), and Science Kids (like) to make her happy. She's all good.
Confession time: Abby has never had a hot dog either. Again, we're pretty much of the mindset that if she doesn't come to expect this (and consequently acquires a taste for good food) that when she has a choice someday between a hot dog and fill-in-the-blank with something else that isn't garbage, then maybe, just maybe, she won't choose the hot dog. On the heels of this ideology, I'll also point out that Abby decided that she wanted some broccoli for breakfast yesterday (10 pieces). Granted, that's not normal, but still. That's her general mindset. She knows that she needs to (and gets too) eat veggies & fruit for meals and snacks. Now, she just finished her apple and is noshing on some whole grain cinnamon crackers. Rough life, this kid has. She's never once complained about eating whole grain bread or asked for white bread instead. It's what she's always known, and it's what she expects. I find that I'm much more likely to prejudice her based off of what I expect kids to be like, but it doesn't have to be that way. Abby eats spinach in things like lasagna, and she knows that it's there; she doesn't complain about it. I know that the first time we gave it to her, I was holding my breath in anticipation, but it's not like she knows that other people don't like it. Lest you get the misguided impression that Abby is a stellar eater with anything and everything, I'll be the first to point out that she's three and has a three-year old mentality about food. She used to scarf up roasted zucchini but has lately decided that she doesn't "like" zucchini. Whatev kid. And supper is often a touchy situation. There are oh so many things that she'd rather be doing than sitting still and eating. Heaven forbid. And she rarely finishes her milk, even if she promises that she will when she asks for it and I only give her about 3 T worth. We all have our food issues, and wow, they start early.
So as to not be all pat-myself-on-the-shoulder or a Debbie Downer, I'll end with some joy from yesterday that had nothing to do with our parenting and is just happy. Audrey is a watcher, an observer of all situations and people, especially Abby. Yesterday, we had returned home from some activities, and I was shlepping Audrey around while trying to unpack things. But Abby was dancing around and playing on her kazoo, which I was neither paying attention to nor ignoring. She was just being Abby and not bothering us. I was holding Audrey facing out, and then I realized I kept hearing Audrey giggling. The goober. She was giggling at her older sister dancing around playing the kazoo. And she kept giggling and giggling and giggling. It was the coolest thing since pretty much everything. So we stopped and had a little giggle/dance/kazoo fest with lots of smiles and lots of laughter. And older sister--she was flying high. Abby desperately wants to play with Audrey. It was only 5 minutes, but it was such a blessing yesterday.
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