Now that we got that out of the way

One of my challenges is providing easily accessible food to a picky three year old. By picky I mean that she picks and chooses WHEN to eat.

Growing up my mom and I always ate dinner together. Which meant quite a lot to me. My mom worked hard and she worked a lot but we always had a nice meal, which we ate while watching Jeopardy. We had two dining room tables but neither were used for eating at. Every once in a while I would move aside the painting supplies and demand we sit at the table, but it never lasted long, and we always migrated back to our TV trays. I grew up thinking this was important and when I had my daughter I wanted it to still be important.

Except that my three year old can't sit still for more than three minutes and she is way more fond of testing the differentiating sounds made by her fork as they hit her plate, her cup, the table, her chair, her body, her head, so on and so forth. I'd throw a parade in her honor if I could get her to sit down and complete one full meal.

So, the challenge, providing easily accessible foods. Fruit and vegetables are always on the table. Literally. That's where I keep my fruit bowl. And the lower shelf in our pantry is usually stocked with kid-friendly snacks. As of today what is on that shelf has changed, slightly. I still bought Goldfish crackers, because dammit, I like Goldfish crackers. I still bought graham crackers for the same reason. What I didn't buy were those prepackaged fruit cups. Why oh why do those prepackaged fruit cups, which are so stinking convenient, have to be full of sugar? Why can't they just be fruit and juice and some ascorbic acid? I opted to not buy the Original Fruit Leather because, eventually, I'm going to make my own. No more hundred calorie packs. No more prepackaged cookies. No more.

My efforts to use the fresh zucchini were wasted today when I woke up in a state of discomfort, all signs leading to food poisoning as the suspect. While I did manage to attend to the much needed grocery shopping, I ignored the food once it was in it's proper place. Not all was lost. I ended up making whole grain waffles, serving them with a cup of strawberry yogurt. It was a cheap, easy shot at dinner. Does this count as a failure? Will I be able to get out of this rut?

Here's to tomorrow being another day!