Monday, January 30, 2012

A Delicious Dinner

I made chili for dinner last night, something I hadn’t yet done this winter.

Olivia ate two bowls, asking me every few bites, “Mommy? Did you make us a delicious dinner?”

I would smile and ask her if she thought it was delicious.

She’d nod, very serious and then take another couple of bites.

Alyssa ate Spaghetti-Ohs, by the way. Ugh! I informed her last night that I am this close to not being willing to make a separate meal for her. I’m so tired of it. She bowed her head and said, “Sorry, Mommy.”

But she’s not. Not really. Because she’s getting her way. She never has to try anything new and she gets to eat her few favorites each night for dinner.

I think the new rule is that she has to try whatever I’d made. One bite, that’s it. And then we’ll discuss what she’ll have instead (that she fixes) if she doesn’t like it.

But you know? I realize this isn’t Alyssa’s fault. It’s our fault for letting her get away with it for so long. What nine year old isn’t going to eat mac & cheese, hot dogs and spaghetti-Ohs at every dinner if their parents let them?

So for her own good, this has to change.

Olivia, on the other hand, has never been a picky eater. She loves to eat and she loves variety. I was awed by the fact that she was saying what she was to me last night, asking me if I’d made us a delicious dinner. She isn’t supposed to speak this well, this clearly. And yet she does. Of course, her teachers only know this because I happen to go to the school every so often and she talks to me when I’m there but they do know and they’re working on figuring out how to get her to talk to them the way she talks to me.

I’m trying to be positive today. Trying to soak up the little bit of sun that is shining in the windows at my back. Trying not to dwell on the irritants that haunted me last night.

Orville is doing well. He’s gained twelve ounces in the last week. That’s pretty good, I think for a four pound kitten. Alyssa adores him and he seems to like being cradled in her arms too.

Every day something good can be found if we look hard enough. It’s tough, though, that sometimes we have to stop and shuffle out the rough stuff in order to find the good. But it’s there. It is.

1 comment:

Julie said...

Mmm, I love chili. Get A involved in making it, maybe she'd be more likely to eat it.