Bad Mommy

Morgan and I gave up television about 20 years ago.  Didn't much miss it, either.  But when I was pregnant with the twins, we realized we'd pretty much never get out to the movies again, so we bought a TV and a DVD player.  Netflix wasn't far behind, and we've lived with this arrangement for the past 6 years.

Well, earlier this year when you could get a partial payment for one of those digital converter boxes, we applied even though we don't watch broadcast television.  "Just in case", we reasoned.  I bought the box back in April, and maybe a month ago, we finally hooked it up.  Without an antenna, it didn't change anything.  Still no channels, so we were still in DVD land.  This lasted about a week, at which point we bought an antenna.  We now get about 8 or so channels - all the networks plus several versions of PBS.

Ah, PBS.  Back in the day, this meant Sesame Street and Nova.  They now have 4 separate channels that show a wide range of programs.  And I must say the children's shows are actually quite good (well, the ones we've been watching, anyway).

But here's the rub.  I've always thought we did pretty well when it came to screen time for the kids.  They maybe watched an average of about an hour a day, with many days TV free.  Now they have a list of shows they enjoy on PBS.  Aside from the educational value, I find myself enjoying the calming effect it has on the boys.  If the TV were off, they'd be racing around the house or fighting or something.  I know that TV is like a drug and can make you kind of lethargic (from personal experience).  My kids spend pretty much their entire school day running around outside, so they aren't lacking in physical activity.  Is it so bad that I'm letting them watch this much television?  I sure feel like a terrible parent for enjoying the peace it brings.

And of course now they're asking why we don't get some of the cable channels they've seen at school.  God, that's all I need - more channels with nothing to watch!

Self Serve

We have one of those lazy Susan corner cabinets in our new kitchen.  It's part of the bottom cabinets, not the ones over the counter, so the kids can easily get into it.  Mind you, I wasn't really thinking about that aspect when we designed the kitchen, but that's what we have.  In this cabinet I store cereal, crackers, pastas, rice, and a few random miscellaneous items.

Cannon recently figured out how to work the door.  He still occasionally gets a finger pinched in it, but for the most part he's got it.  When he's hungry, he'll waddle over and open it, spin it around, and pick out whatever it is he wants to eat.  Sometimes cereal, sometimes raisins, now and then the crackers.  And he always eats whatever he's picked out.  It actually works out pretty well since he doesn't have more than about 4 words in his vocabulary.  No guessing games!  Of course, I'm beginning to wonder if this arrangement is preventing him from developing his language skills....

For a mostly non-verbal kid, he does a pretty good job of communicating.  He'll point at a desired object and nod his head vigorously if he wants it.  I can ask him yes/no questions, and he'll either nod or shake his head in response (and remarkably, he means what he "says" about 90% of the time).  Even so, I'm ready for some more words.  I get that he loves balls, and saying "bye-bye", and he's always super happy to see "dada"; but I want more.  In his defense, he's trying to say "play", but "mama" would be nice.

Everything Tastes Better With...

Ketchup, apparently.

It's such a strange thing.  Cannon is a terrific eater - the kid will eat two slices of chard tart at a sitting and pretty much anything else we offer him.  Kale jambalaya was a big hit.  Tacos.  Enchiladas.  Most meats, even if a little spicy.  Fruit is a huge favorite, and he'll eat some veggies.  But sometimes, like most kids, he's just not in the mood.  This seems particularly true when we eat out.  I have found, however, that if you dip his food in ketchup, he will gobble it up.  If he even sees the bottle on the table, all bets are off unless his food is dipped in it.  French fries?  He doesn't eat them.  He merely uses them as a ketchup delivery device.  He'll double and triple dip them, sucking the red goop off, until the fry begins to fall apart.  Then he starts all over with another one.  Just this very evening he was refusing his dinner until I broke out the sauce.  I suppose it isn't such a far cry from salsa to ketchup, but I can't get terribly excited about chicken quesadillas with ketchup.

I was a ketchup eater as a kid.  Not like this, I don't think.  But I would eat bologna and ketchup sandwiches almost every day for lunch.  I still eat it on my fries, and on most ketchup-appropriate foods.  Even so, I don't understand the attraction.  Rowan is also a fan, though like me he pretty much limits it to burgers, hot dogs, and fries.  Kemper won't touch it with a ten foot pole.  If there is one speck of red on his food (if, for example, he wants the last few bites that Rowan didn't eat), he won't eat it at all.  Even if you remove the offending morsel.  Once contaminated, always contaminated, I guess.

We All Scream...

Recently we went on a weekend trip to Maine.  The drive took us about 3 hours or so, and was actually pretty painless.  We've discovered that Rowan and Kemper are old enough to really listen to a book on tape, and this was our second trip trying that out.  It works really well.

Anyway, as we got relatively close to our destination, there was a Dairy Queen.  Of course we stopped.  I went in with the boys to order, while Morgan waited with the sleeping baby in the car.  It took forever to make our ice cream; not sure why, but seriously we waited about 20 minutes for 2 chocolate dipped cones and 2 blizzards.  Whatever.

So we load back into the car to continue our trip.  Now normally I wouldn't let the kids eat ice cream in the car. I'm conflicted about allowing any food in the car, but usually give in and let them eat.  But the baby was sleeping, there weren't any tables anyway, and we wanted to get there, so exceptions were made.  It was a beautiful day, and we were on a local road, so Morgan put the windows down.  This generally results in complaints from the back seat - Rowan doesn't like the wind blowing so much (as a toddler he'd say, "NO WINDY!!!" when it was too cold outside for him).  But there was ice cream so it was pretty quiet.

For about 5 minutes.  Then there was a sudden cry from the back seat:  "The ice cream is all over me!"  Sure enough, once we pulled over to assess the damage, we saw ice cream everywhere.  It looked like someone had turned on a high-speed fan and held the ice cream cones in front of it.  The wind dug little eddies out of the chocolate coating, then forced the rapidly melting ice cream out of the holes.  It took me a full 15 minutes to get it clean.  And the boys stood on the side of the road to finish the cones while I cleaned the mess.

It sort of reminded me of the time when I was a kid riding in the backseat of a friend's car.  The windows were down, and her dad spit out the window and it came in through the back window and hit me in the face.  I'm guessing it isn't quite so gross when it's ice cream, though.

Shoes

In a house of boys, I generally find it a challenge to get them to put shoes on.  In the first week of school, Kemper "lost" his shoes at school twice, as he'd much rather run around barefoot than wear shoes.  So imagine my surprise yesterday when Cannon, on three separate occasions, brought me his little shoes and extended his feet so I could put them on for him.  I mean, this kid can barely walk and doesn't even need shoes!  It's really very cute, though.

Eating Locally

We belong to both a meat and a vegetable CSA. The CSA (or Community Supported Agriculture) concept is one we've supported for a number of years. You basically share in the risk by paying up front for a season's worth of produce. That way the farmer has the money to run the farm, and the members get fresh, local stuff all season long. It usually works to our advantage - I typically feel like I got more than my money's worth. Occasionally the farmer ends up feeling really glad that the risk got spread among many people, as is the case this year with the tomatoes. We often get between 10 and 20 pounds of tomatoes a week when they're in season (plus the pick your own cherry and plum varieties), but this summer there was a blight that wiped out nearly the entire crop.

That said, even in the less productive seasons we get tons of delicious stuff. This year is no different. I'm not always so good at using everything we get, but I've really been trying this time. I've gotten much better, I must say. Our meat CSA has a monthly pickup, and I am always careful to make menus that incorporate whatever meat we have with the veggies.

Last week while eating dinner, I realized that with the exception of the butter, celery, and seasonings, the entire meal came either from our farm memberships or a local farm stand. We had Shepherd's Pie with ground lamb, corn on the cob, fresh picked green beans, and a fruit plate with cantaloupe, nectarines, apples, and fresh picked raspberries. It was very satisfying.

Something Fishy

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I have wrinkles. Crow's feet around the eyes, and laugh lines around my mouth. I generally don't think about them much, but I am aware of their existence.

A while back, Kemper said to me, "Mommy, you have ****** when you smile". (The ****** indicates an indecipherable word.) Kemper frequently seems to mumble, or maybe just talk too softly, so I said, "What?" Again, he said, "You have ****** when you smile". We went back and forth like this for several exchanges, until I finally understood him. He was telling me I have gills when I smile.