The Pizza of Feeding a Toddler

I assume all Mothers have the best of intentions; I know that I certainly do. As an older mom I have been allowed more time on the Earth to bear witness to many other Mothers, granting me the opportunity to formulate an infinite amount of opinions of how I would do things. So here I am in my middle years, knowing without a doubt what the best food options are for my toddler.

I made sure that we did not feed Beny solid foods too early, I wanted to ensure that her digestive system was healthily formed and practiced in the digestive process. When ready for solid foods I made sure that she was fed only single food items for a minimum of five days to minimize food allergies or at least bear witness to the cause of a food allergy. She didn’t have cows milk until she was 14 months old, no lactose intolerance for my little girl. I measured (even if most of the time it was mental calculations) the grams of protein vs. complex carbohydrates at each meal. Simple carbohydrates were kept at a minimum for the first fifteen months, and it was pretty limited to Cheerios and nutritious whole grain baby cereal.  I vowed I would never feed her fast food, french fries or any other unhealthy food item.

What I have to come to learn is that toddlers’ are a persnickety breed. Their favorite food choice changes daily, literally, and leftovers are not an option at least not for my little Peanut. 

Our Toddlers meal options are like a selection of various pizzas. There is the very healthy all veggie pizza made with whole grain flat bread (minimizing those nasty carbs). I actually do feed her only veggie meals, such as garbanzo beans with a mixed vegetable side, or a homemade (by Grammy) pinto bean soup with slices of fresh carrots – it’s healthy and she likes it. Of course there are the evil fat filled mouth-watering pepperoni pizzas with the melted cheese dripping over its side. Bad mother that I am she has had that for dinner also, because it was what we (the adults) are having and because it was easy. Of course, there are the middle of the road pizzas with minimal cheese, chicken, vegies and a side salad. That is more the norm in our household, but, we have to work at it to keep the meal balanced.

If life never got in the way, and if I were June Cleaver or Carol Brady (at least she had a housekeeper) I would grow my own vegetables, cook them with only healthy oils and fresh herbs, all while living in a preservative sugar-free household. But, sadly I am not, I am me; a Mother that loves to work, a Mother with other interests, a Mother that requires alone time or I get persnickety, a Mother that really does not enjoy housework. A Mother that knows better but doesn’t always do better because I have other things to do.

Basically, that is the crux of it, isn’t’ it? I want my daughters to grow up to be their own person, and not live up to any ideal standard of perceived perfection. I just want them to try and do the best they can. However, I want them to love endlessly, respect humanity and Mother Earth, respect themselves, honor the God or Goddess (as they choose) and know that no man is perfect on Earth. I want them to know that our imperfections are what make us all equally perfect.

© Yvonne B. Pérez and The Life and Confessions of an Older Mother, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Yvonne B. Pérez and The Life and Confessions of an Older Mother with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Profanity in the World of a Toddler

There are certain words and phrases in the English language that unequivocally convey the condition of one’s emotional state to perfection. Employing such words is an art form, an art form in which I excel, actually the only art in which I excel. However, I have mastered the ability not to employ this specific art in front of children and adults who do not appreciate such colorful expressive art. Of course there is the school of thought that believes the use of such linguistical art is against nature and God, my belief is that God appreciates our conveyance of emotions – She told me so. And, I certainly think it is within my right considering the male half of God toyed with females by allowing us to age differently than the male population. That reality alone deserves the right to employ such verbal art.

In my fourteen years as an aunt and my year in a half as a mother I have refrained from verbally expressing myself artistically in front of children with the exception when in the presence of one of my sisters. Marisa has certainly expressed herself colorfully through the years though abhors the use of artistic verbal expression in front of children. However, my middle sister, Dina’s achievement of linguistical verbal art has entirely surpassed mine, I’m so proud, our communication even in text may employ certain phrases merely for entertainment purposes or conveyance of our current emotional condition. During our twenty’s while living together if one of us sneezed and the other didn’t reply with a ‘bless you’ within a nanosecond the other would say “Bless me Bitch’, and we would comply with love. In Marisa’s presence I will employ linguistic art simply to annoy her, though I hadn’t realized until this writing that I do it to annoy – its like a flip is switched when in her presence, we are sisters after all. I believe there is a deep psychological reason for this, it must be that over the past two decades she has been tardy to every scheduled family event with the exception of Benecia’s first communion/our wedding since I promised that the ceremony would begin with out her. Actually, I think I also gave her a start time of an additional thirty minutes early to ensure her timeliness. Consequently, for all intents and purposes my verbal art is not utilized around Benecia who is now fifteen months old, therefore I hold no responsibility for what has ensued.

A few days ago when Mom was making dinner the pot boiled over on the stove, Mom on occasion moderately artistic herself, though traditionally through the use of Spanish verbal art said with gusto “Shit!”.  It was only said once and not loud at that, but, Beny being the ever intelligent toddler heard it, and liked it and proceeded to repeat it herself with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. So now we have a toddler walking around the house, occasionally dropping something and artistically expressing herself with “Shit! Shit! Shit!” nodding her head with each ‘shit’ as a physical exclamation mark. However, I am tremendously impressed she was able to capture the purpose and appropriate use of the word. Of course there are times she says it just to hear the word. We try very hard not to laugh so as not to encourage her, though Mother whispered to me last night, “ask her to say ‘shit’”, cause it is a little funny, and I had only heard it the first time missing all her subsequent artistic expressions. I thought better of it for two reasons, one I am an adult and two, I didn’t want to annoy Husband. Don’t get me wrong I annoy Husband plenty and actually enjoy it on most occasions, for some reason I thought this wasn’t a good idea – I think I need to dig deeper as the why of this. There are many occasions in which I am not an adult, though now as a parent I should try to be an adult more often, hence I refrained from encouraging her to say it – though I really wanted to.

It is important to note that I am relieved of all responsibility of teaching Beny how to express herself artistically. Also, toddlers learn at an amazing pace, she has a vocabulary of at least 100 words, now 101 and understands everything. I have Husband teaching her how to make strange sounds such as “baththththth” just as a funny and Mom teaching her how to appropriately use the word ‘shit’. I wonder when we will teach her the alphabet.

 © Yvonne B. Pérez and The Life and Confessions of an Older Mother, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Yvonne B. Pérez and The Life and Confessions of an Older Mother with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.