She likes it! She likes it!

I've posted about this before...it's a very common occurrence in our home. And I know I'm not a lone mom that deals with picky eaters I also refer to as my monkeys.

I make a meal from scratch; my kids would rather eat cereal, eggos, oatmeal, or eggs ANY DAY of the week....AND for all three meals, mind you! I've caught on and I just don't put that much umphhh into my dinners anymore...what's the point? Give the monkeys what they want and everyone will be happy.

5 pm rolls around and I'm head first into the deep freeze digging up something from yester-year or some ready-to-eat dealio from Costco (gotta love it Costco)! Okay, not yester-year...but pretty close --I had to scrape the ice off the top to even see what was chicken-scratched on the top--was it really something that was edible? Did I shove it in there thinking that by some miraculous change in taste buds sometime in the near future they'd certainly like it even if they snubbed it the first time around, thus the leftovers fit for a whole kingdom?

And note....I consider myself to be a pretty good cook...I learned some great homemaking skills when I was like two and have been practicing them ever since. But I don't like to waste pounds upon pounds of food...so I relent most the time. Oh, and I don't like the whiny "I'm hungry" cries from the top of the stairs at night when they're supposed to be in REM cycle 3 already. So I usually stock my freezer full of eggos and 'safe' pre-made Costco meals, my cupboards full of carnation instant breakfast, my pantry full of healthy cereals, breads, and nutri-grain bars, and my fridge full of milk, yogurt, eggs, and fruit. Forget the rest-except the jasmine rice. They'll eat that as a meal in and of itself any time. Too bad jasmine rice costs like the same as gas.

So tonight the fridge is kinda empty. Haven't made it to Costco in over 2 weeks. Curt's out of town and I'm not taking three little girls in there cause frankly, I won't have enough cart space and I'm a pretty smart mom--I know that by the weekend they'd be puking all over from whatever random virus they caught off the shopping carts. Izzie does suck her finger no matter what it's made contact with the second before. And I think they're like immune to sanitizer by now. If I have Izzie sanitize too much she'd end up with a blood alcohol level of like 10 because of the finger-sucking. Another story for another time.

Off to the freezer to scrape off the ice and try to read the chicken scratch--cause surely the stuff inside was dog food--or at least that's what it looked like. Chicken curry with veggies....yeah, the kids might have liked that one a couple months ago. So I throw some rice on and open some corn and butter some bread....walaaa! A meal. I had to beg them to eat it---Izzie got airplanes, trains, helicopters...even race car spoonfuls of food into her mouth. The rice was gone in no time flat and everyone else cleared their 5 bites I made them shove 'to get their protein.' Why do we do this to ourselves when hot dogs and mac 'n' cheese is cheaper and easier? Yeah, I can't even stomach the thought of those things. And it was a good meal! I certainly enjoyed it. Didn't taste a bit like freezer burn...r e a l l y. And I'll enjoy it tomorrow too--like I said, enough for the whole kingdom.

So I'm helping Mons clean up and I look over...Vivs is almost completely turned around in her little bumbo chair (that she sits in on the table to eat)...both hands in the chicken curry grabbing fist fulls and shoving them into her mouth just as fast as she can. This is my little girl with a sensitive and delicate GI system---is she trying to say, "stop babying me already and give me the real stuff--I'm ONE for goodness sakes????" And she didn't even have squirrel cheeks, so she was actually inhaling the stuff! YEAH! She likes it, she likes it! I watched her do this like 5 times and then I'd give her water to help wash the stuff down---cause it's kinda chunky and I'm sure it's going down her throat whole cause her front two teeth just won't do the trick. But okay, I'll go along with it---so I grind some of it up for her and continue to feed her...but that just wasn't quick enough for her...she still had to grab fist fulls and shove. It was funny enough for a photo-op, so there ya have it.

Moral of the story: I love my Vivs. I adore all my kids....most of the time. Don't you dare dement her, oh, ye five other monkeys-of-mine! I want my kids to be healthy, so I'll give them what they will actually eat (1/2 the time) as long as it's a healthy choice. But it's sure nice when my meals don't end up feeding the mice and other creatures that are outside near the trashcan...even if the tupperware started out looking like frozen dog food before it was defrosted. And, if it's good enough for Vivs, it's good enough for the rest of the pack. I think Vivs is ready for real food...except she spit up nasties like 4 times after her feast. Oh well, but I am a good cook...really, I am.