Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Stupid Cow Milk!

My sweet little angel uses "cow milk" as her little three-year-old version of a swear word.

Since starting preschool, she has picked up the word, "stupid," which I explained is a bad word that is not nice.  As a result, her new swear word, for when she is most upset or something is most offensive:
"Stupid cow milk!"

I asked her why she would say that when I told her "stupid" is a bad word, and she responded that cow milk is, in fact, stupid, "Right, Mommy?"

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

My Dinner is Broken. There's No Broccoli.

People are always asking me how I get my kids to eat vegetables, and the main way is that I eat them, but there are other tricks too.

We went to a farm where you get to pick your own vegetables a few days ago, and just showing my daughter that those are the collard greens/lettuce/carrots/broccoli that she picked makes her completely interested in eating those foods.  This always works at the store, to a lesser degree.  If she wants to get melon, cauliflower, or apples, there's a good chance she's going to eat them.

Another trick is to have her help me cook.  Tonight I was just going to roast some vegetables, so it was a perfect time to give her freedom to suggest whatever she thought would be good.

We made broccoli, garlic, chickpeas, and mushrooms, tossed with olive oil, dulse, salt, and red pepper flakes.  Then she insisted we cover it all in tomatoes, and I added some balsamic and nutritional yeast.

She gobbled that dinner up, but especially the broccoli that she had picked herself.  After she ate all the broccoli, and he baby brother had eaten most of his food, she went to get him seconds (without anyone asking her to, which was pretty sweet).  She said she was just getting him the beans, because he like that best (again, really sweet).

Then she said she wanted to get herself another bowl, but her bowl was still half full because she had only eaten the broccoli.

"I think my dinner is broken.  It's ruined, maybe.  It doesn't have any broccoli."

To my little vegan sweety, her dinner is ruined without broccoli.  Meanwhile my friends can't figure out how I get her to eat broccoli :)  

Sunday, October 7, 2012

No Fur, No Leather, Just Wear a Peanut Butter Sandwich

Driving home from a you-pick ranch, before my daughter began singing a song she made up about a vegetable farm, we had the following conversation:

Me:  What should I wear on my date with Daddy tonight?

V: A peanut butter sandwich!

Husband and I looked at eachother and giggled, he seemed to perk up.

Husband to me, quietly: Like on Varsity Blues...?

Me:  I could eat a peanut butter sandwich on my date with Daddy, but what should I wear?

V, clearly annoyed that I'm asking her the same question again:  A PEANUT BUTTER
SANDWICH!

Me:  How would I wear a peanut butter sandwich?

V:  With socks and a jacket.

Well, that's that.  I hope I don't get arrested on my date...

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Farm Sanctuary

During the whole Chick-fil-A hoopla, I got pretty upset thinking about all the hate being thrown around against the LGBT community, and I found myself using social media to fight hard for them.  Then I started to think about the chickens, and I felt the need to do something more.  So I got on the Farm Sanctuary website and "adopted" a chicken for the year.  My daughter's birthday was coming up, so I adopted a barnyard for her as well.

They send this great little car for each animal telling you how that animal came to Farm Sanctuary, what their personality is like, and what their favorite foods are.  These cards have become some of my daughter's favorite possessions.  As I read through the animals' favorite foods, she exclaims, "PEARS?!  Just like me!"

Today I asked her what she would like to take for sharing tomorrow at school.  She said, "My turkey." She has lots of animal toys, but not a toy turkey, so I didn't know what she meant.  Then she said, "My turkey card!"  She went and got her cards and went through, looking at all her animals and showing us, until she got to the turkey.  She decided last minute to add her pig too, because he's so cute!   Then she got the pamphlet about Farm Sanctuary and put that with her cards.

That's right, without any discussion about the great turkey slaughter next month, she just decided she wanted to share about the turkey her family sponsored...

Color me amazed.