A RealFamilies RealFun Blog

Sep 25 2008

Can I have some medicine?

Category: Come and Get It

Lucie runs in, tears streaming down her cheeks. Between sobs, she says, "Maamaaa. I think! I broke! My arm!"

I look over her arm and ask her what happened. But still I get sobs and, "Mom! My arm's broke!"

I don't think it is. Instead I offer to get her a "boo-boo buddy," a kind of kid friendly ice pack. After I get a fairly calmed down Lucie on the couch, set up with a buddy, her blanket and her ice pack, she asks, "Mom, can I have some medicine? It'll make my arm feel better."

Since the only medicine she occasionally gets is an antihistamine, I tell her, "Honey, I don't think the medicine will make your arm feel better. How about a Popsicle instead?"

A smile breaks out on Lucie's face. Sore arm forgotten, she leaps off the couch and runs into the kitchen. A special ice cream treat is the best medicine of all.

 

Aug 5 2008

The ketchup top is MIA

Category: Come and Get It

It's inevitable that I miss the kids' shenanigans going on around me. I've got too much stuff going on from bill paying, to writing, to folding laundry, and I'm just not that good at giving my undivided attention to several things at once.

Like a few days ago when Lucie was having her favorite white trash meal of bologna and ketchup and wanted a second helping. (It's low fat turkey bologna, and ketchup has lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. Really, it's not as bad as you think.) She decided to serve herself, and I came downstairs to find the living room looking like a high school cafeteria at noon -- food, plates, and cutlery everywhere.

Even though I've told Lucie to ask mommy to get her food, this was not the first time she's helped herself. She's an independent child, and likes doing things herself. This explains why there are four half eaten yogurts -- all of them peach -- sitting in my refrigerator right now.

Lucie and I cleaned up. I showed her that bologna belongs on a plate and not draped all over the coffee table, and that ketchup covered utensils don't belong on the carpet. After we got everything in its proper place, I discovered that the ketchup top was missing. We looked under the sofa and between the couch cushions. I scanned the 'fridge and trash can. It was no where to be found, so back the bottle went, as topless as a Folies Bergere dancer.

Often a household item -- or a favorite piece of jewelry of mine -- goes missing because of the kids. While I know it's somewhere in the house and that it'll eventually turn up, it drives me crazy not knowing where something is. Luckily, I found the cap two days later in the toy box with all the Fisher-Price farm toys.

How it got there is beyond me. Maybe Mr. Farmer needed some ketchup with his fries.

 

Jul 22 2008

Eggs or Bread?

Category: Come and Get It

There are two different kinds of breakfast people -- egg people and bread people. Egg people love eggs in all its forms for breakfast -- scrambled, poached, in omelets, fried, and so on. Bread people love pastries, toast, donuts, oatmeal, cereal, breakfast bars, and rolls for the first meal of the day.

Granted there are hybrid people who like a combination of both eggs and bread. They eat egg burritos, eggs Benedict, or a fried egg on their pancakes. My family -- both the one I grew up with and the one I created -- is equally divided between egg people and bread people.

My mom, Nathan, and Paul are egg people. Lucie, my sister, and I are bread people. My dad was a reformed egg person. When I was small he'd have two soft boiled eggs every morning. By the time I was in high school, he switched over to oatmeal, multi-grained toast, and yogurt.

All throughout my childhood, my mother's favorite breakfast was a large cheese omelet. Still, I'll never forget her attempts at eating oatmeal. She thought oatmeal was food for horses, not people. Nevertheless she gave it a try on recommendation from her doctor. Her attempts to disguise the taste and texture -- cream, butter, and sugar -- defeated the purpose of trying to lower her cholesterol, so she quickly gave it up.

Nathan and Paul love their eggs. Nathan's always on some egg food jag or another. For two weeks he ate mashed up hard boiled eggs with salt and pepper for his school lunch. (He'd have his teacher heat it up in the microwave.) Also, he's always begging Paul to make him an egg burrito on the weekends, or for me to cook him up what we call an egg pocket, a folded over fried egg with cheese in the middle.

Paul is a master omelet maker -- crab, fancy cheeses, avocado, shrimp, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Mmmmm...even I'll go over to the egg side occasionally for one of his fabulous creations. But ultimately, I'm a bread person, preferring a bowl of oatmeal or a toasted bagel with cream cheese. Lately, I totally agree with Lucie's breakfast philosophy. When I ask her what she wants for breakfast, she says, "Mama, I want toast with butter and jam. Toast is good. It makes you feel better."