Friday, March 4, 2011

little bird

Sometimes the biggest indicator to me that my children are actually from me is their infatuation with watching me cook. Being in the kitchen is like going to the circus, and each of them will hang out with me forever, chatting and dancing to whatever music I am listening to.

yesterday, Sam spent a rare weeknight at his dad's because of a break from school, and so it was just little Oliver and I in the kitchen. He pulled a stepping stool over, and stood next to me at the counter. Because I was making chili, and I already had half of the ingredients out, I decided to make pico de gallo and guacamole, too.

I turned to stir the chili, and when I looked back, Oliver was fully biting into half of lime, peel and all.

"blech!" he laughed, sticking his tongue out and spitting the bite out. Giggles filled the kitchen. He set the lime down, then for whatever 2-year-old reason, picked it back up and tried again. "blech!" giggle giggle.

I moved on to dicing tomatoes.

"mo, peas?" He asked, his face a perfect bright-eyed question mark. Oliver says a few things clearly; for example, "cookie" is clear as a bell. The rest is a guessing game.

"You'd like more, please?" I asked, handing him a piece of tomato, which he greedily shoved into his little mouth.

"Mo, peas. Mo, peas." He repeated. Nothing beats a toddler in ability to repeat the same phrase or act over and over. I continued to feed him tomato pieces. He continued to eat them, opening his mouth like a little bird.

It occurred to me again in this moment that access to healthy foods means a lot more than simple nutrition. This perfect, lovely simple moment with my youngest happened because I took the time and care to cook. He experimented with flavors, something many kids might never do. He watched me measuring, carefully mixing and making something from hand to feed my family, all members of which I love; perhaps the importance of this act will passed on to Oliver and his brother, and they will pass it on the their kids. He ate tomatoes, lots of them, and then he ate chili, which is healthy and nourishing and good.

The rest of the meals in the day were not as glamourous as the chili dinner:)

My lunch was a turkey wrap with hummus, Carrot sticks and a granola bar.

Breakfast for the boys was scrambled eggs, cereal and kiwi.

Today is a leftover lunch day-more chili. That's fine by me. One 1.5 cup serving of this chili has only 325 calories, and is loaded with veggies and protein.

No comments:

Post a Comment