Is That Our Fruits and Veggies?

Last year we joined a CSA, where you pay a farmer at the beginning of a season for a portion of their crop.  In exchange, you get weekly produce throughout the season.  It sounded great in theory, and I imagined us chowing down on wonderful meals of organic produce all summer long. But in reality, we got a lot of vegetables we don't typically eat (seriously, how often can you eat turnip greens?); it was a hot, dry summer, so we had some pretty skimpy boxes; and we were out of town two weeks and we gave all that produce away.  That's not to speak of the rather embarrassing quantities of produce that ended up in the trash or on the compost pile.

But since I continue to learn (the hard way) that life with kids is about compromise, this year we are trying something different.  We signed up for a service called The Produce Box that delivers boxes of vegetables and fruit to us weekly.  No, the produce isn't organic, nor is it all from truly local farmers, but it is all from North Carolina, and it is all from small to medium sized farms and they tend to use fewer pesticides than large, commercial farms.  As added bonuses, we get to pick from several different box choices each week so we can primarily get produce we will use, we pay as we go, and we have the ability to skip weeks.

It's probably not the cheapest way to get produce, but it is an inexpensive way to get healthy produce, and it's a luxury I'm happy to put in our budget.  Especially given the kids' response.  I can't begin to describe how happy they are when the box comes each week, especially the boys.  When we bring the box in to the house, Michael always comes running and asks, "Is that our fruits and veggies?" in a tone which other kids reserve for things like, "You really mean we can buy every toy in the store?" or "We're really going to live at Disney World?"  Then he asks to open the lid so he can see the treasures.  Leon may not say much out loud with the produce arrives, but it's not long before the chef is muttering under his breath, planning dinners based on the contents of the box.

It's forcing us to be creative in our meals, so that we can use what we receive.  If you asked the kids at the beginning of summer, they would've told you that none of them like eggplant.  If you asked today, they would probably give the same answer, except after trying it numerous ways, we've discovered they all loved roasted eggplant.  And we like roasted veggies because we can prep them ahead of time and just toss them in the oven at dinner.  It is what Jeff calls a Magic Dinner.

And the kids are becoming more open to trying new things, especially fruits.  We have had a large variety of melons this summer, many of which I've never heard of before.  After some initial hesitations, they've realized they are fabulous.  It was hard not to smile yesterday when we opened the box and Leon said, "A sprite melon!  Mom, we got a sprite melon!"  Yup, we sure did.

Ree and Michael have the whole sibling squabbling thing down.  One one hand, they love playing together.  On the other, they are constantly bickering.  Michael is also extremely literal.  If you tell him, "Tell Leon you're sorry," the words that come out of Michael's mouth will be "Tell Leon you're sorry."  Michael also frequently announces his emotions.  If things aren't going well, he will forcefully drop his shoulders, lower his chin to his chest, and blurt out, "I'm sad!"  And if things are going well, he will stop in the middle of the action and announce, "I'm happy!"  So I suppose I really shouldn't have been surprised by last night's conversation.

The three big kids were in the bathtub, and Natalia was supervising from her bouncy seat.  Ree and Michael had just finished washing and were fighting over who was going to get out of the tub first.  I zoned out for a minute, and when my brain tuned back in, I finally heard the words they were saying.

Michael: I'm fighting.
Ree: No, I'm fighting.
Michael: I'M fighting.
Ree: No, I'm fighting.
Michael: No, I'M fighting.
Ree: I'm fighting...

I'm pretty sure this would've gone on for days if I hadn't jumped in to stop it.  Ah, this is the stuff golden childhood memories are made of!

Leon always amuses me with his ability to ask the most common sense questions about things we take for granted.  Last week we were reading a book about Dora the Explorer, and Dora and her monkey friend Boots set off for the library with only her backpack to watch over them.  Leon wanted to know where her mom was.  And that is a good question.  Where is the mom while this little girl is taking off on one mad adventure after the next?  She takes Dora to the doctor and dentist, and she gives birth to twins, but otherwise, we don't see much of her.

Another night Leon asked me to sing, "Rock-a-bye Baby" while I was dressing him after his bath.  When I got to the end of the song he said, "Why was the baby in a tree? Babies don't go in trees!"  He has a point.

Coupons

At bedtime I now take each of the boys into the bathroom separately so they can brush their teeth and go potty.  Since alone time with me is hard to come by, this is when we get in some of our most meaningful discussions.  Here is my discussion with Leon from last night.

Leon: What's for breakfast (tomorrow)?
Me: I don't know.  Probably cereal and milk.
L: No cereal and milk.
Me: (Letting him down gently.)  Well, that's probably what you're having.  Talk to Dad.  I won't be here.  I have work in the morning.
L: WAH! (And, yes, he literally says "wah" when he fake cries.  He even manages to get the tears to stream down his face.  It's sad and pathetic and a bit comical.)
Me: Sweetie, I have to go to work so we have money to go to the store.
Leon perks up and stops WAHing because he loves shopping.  Then he looks lost in thought.
Me: That's why I work. So we have money for things like going to the store.
L: No, Mom.  Use coupons.

Potty Training Fun

It is time for a much overdue potty training update.  I would've written something sooner, but, well, there was nothing to report.  I had great intentions about potty training, but I have great intentions about a lot of things, like wearing shoes to work.  But that doesn't mean there wasn't a day a couple of weeks ago where I went to back out of the driveway for work and I realized the brake pedal in the car felt weird.  It took me a minute to figure out what was going on, but after looking down, I realized it felt weird because I was about to drive to work barefoot.  (In my own defense, I do often put my shoes on when I get to the car so the kids don't hear me walking through the house and across the porch.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

So Leon was the first one to show real interest in using the potty.  And then something happened, and he lost interest.  Then Michael got interested.  And Michael got to where he was at least using the potty every night before bed.  It was a small step for potty training, but a huge step for laundry reduction because even if he went in his diaper, at least he was no longer overflowing and we weren't having to change his sheets multiple times a week.

A few weeks ago my mom made charts for the boys to hang up in the bathroom where they could add stickers to track their success.  Great idea, but they just sat on the bathroom counter for a long time because I didn't feel like encouraging potty use.  I know, bad mommy.  (But do you know how flippin' time consuming it is to take two boys to the potty????  You think girls are bad, but they don't have to figure out how every part of the toilet works, or ask what the parts are called 15 gajillion times.  They do not feel the need to stick their head IN the bowl to watch it flush or to watch their sibling go to the bathroom.  They also do not find ways to get dirtier while washing their hands, or decide that really, they need to wash their feet too.)  But on Saturday I finally managed to clean the bathroom, and in doing so, I hung up the potty charts.  (And, yes, this means it had been weeks since I had cleaned the kids' bathroom. Twitch, twitch.)

Ree noticed the charts right away, but I told her they were a secret, and we would tell the boys about them on Sunday.  She thought that was fun.  They were very excited to discover them, and we spent a few minutes making sure that everyone knew the name that started with L was Leon and the name that started with M was Michael.  The first question each of the kids' asked was where was Ree's chart?  So I dutifully made her one too yesterday.

Things went pretty well on Sunday.  The boys liked the chart, and Leon's super-competitiveness kicked in.  He kept counting to make sure he had more stickers than Michael, and he even went before bed to make sure he had the most stickers for the day.  I realized I kinda liked it too.  The stars were encouraging for me - yes, there is an end to having three kids in diapers!

Yesterday morning Leon was skinner than usual when he got up, and given that the boy has the body of a Tootsie Pop with a big round head and a stick body, this meant he was really, really skinny.  It turns out he had gotten up, taken off his diaper and placed it in the corner, and put his pajama shorts back on.  He then informed Jeff, "I don't need diapies anymore."

If only it were that simple.

Girls' Day

Friday was girls' day, and Ree, Natalia, and I took off for a day o' fun.  The morning started with a play date with one of Ree's friends.  The girls were very excited to see each other, although I'm not sure they exactly knew what to do when they were finally together.  They tried playing inside, but the girl's little brother kept destroying everything they did.  For Ree, I think this felt a little too much like being at home.  So we headed outside.  The little girl was excited to show Ree her chickens (they have four), although Ree really wasn't sure what to do with them.  So Ree went to swing while her friend chased chickens.  Still, when it was time to leave, the girls couldn't stop hugging each other. 

Our next stop was Panera, one of the places Ree has approved for us to eat at on girls' days.  (Olive Garden is the other one.)  I've finally figured out a plan so that she can eat all of her favorite foods.  She wants the squeezable yogurt from the kid's meals, but she doesn't actually like the kid's meals because they all have sandwiches and she doesn't eat bread.  So I ate the sandwich from her kid's meal.  Meanwhile she got a bowl of soup, and I ate the chips that came with it.  With a lot of food swapping, everyone was happy.  And, of course, we shared a cookie for dessert.  Ree was so cute.  I had eaten a chunk of it, and I told her she could have the rest.  (The cookies there are massive.)  She looked and it and finally told me it was too much and asked me to break off a piece of it.  She knows her limits.

The last stop of the day was the pediatrician's office for Natalia's four-month-checkup.  (We were running pretty late on that.)  For whatever reason, Ree LOVES any excuse to go to the doctor.  I think it's the combination of videos in the waiting room, lots of books to read, and plenty of time for a parent to read to her.  Natalia remains a "sturdy" little girl.  At 23.5 inches long, she was only in the 7th percentile for length.  But she was 14 pounds, 4 ounces, placing her in the 37th percentile for weight.  Short and wide!