The Kozel Family

The Kozel Family

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Our Poor, Neglected Friend

Here you go, Chad...



Congratulations!  You've finally made it into the blog.  Now no more whining. 

;)

Who ordered the mung beans with a side of lint?

Lily:

I want to tell you about your adventurous eating before something changes (as it always does!).

Breakfast:  A Power-Packed Smorgasboard!
Knowing how our days go, I try to put everything healthy in the world into your breakfast.  That way if (or, in our case, when) schedules fall apart in the day and you eat carpet lint for dinner, I don't have to feel so bad about it.

At this moment your breakfast includes:
1.  avocado mixed with one of the following--broccoli, kale, spinach, or asparagus
2.  a fruit (usually banana, prunes, pears, or applesauce)
3.  porridge:  a combination of any/all of the following--brown rice, millet, barley, oats, red lentils, garbanzos, split peas, and mung beans + tahini + flax seed + kelp powder
4.  When you have had enough, I put some cheerio-type cereal on your high chair for you to feed yourself while I clean up.

I'm envisioning you reading this when you are about 15 years old and saying, "Really, Mother?"  You eat all of this happily, though.  I have physical proof:


Lunch:
You always eat a serving of plain yogurt + wheat germ and something orange.  Sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, and pumpkin are all on the menu.  I used to have to mix your yogurt with some other flavor, but now you are fine with it plain.  Grandma told me that she used to make her own yogurt and I thought she was nuts.  Turns out it's not difficult at all, or I am just as nuts as Grandma.  Wyatt likes the yogurt too, although he prefers his spiked with fruit preserves or put into a smoothie.  

Snack:
This is almost always tofu chunks, which you double-fist into your mouth.  Sometimes you will also feed yourself small pieces of carrot or a Mum-Mum, which is a rice rusk oval-shaped wafer that Daddy swears is mostly styrofoam.  Every time you see me coming with a Mum-Mum you wave your arms and smile and get really excited.  Then you grab it and, "CRUNCH!"

Dinner.
You usually have porridge again and whatever I haven't fed you before during the day. 


Other things you enjoy eating:
Life cereal
store-bought chicken or turkey dinners (I tried making my own before--you were NOT impressed)
kiwi
green beans
egg yolks (you eat one about every other day)
pineapple
grapes


Things you wish you could eat:
dog food pieces
periodicals
a twist tie
socks
a tumbleweed of dog hair found in a forgotten corner
any type of suffocating plastic
carpet lint
a plastic pirate sword
wood chips
dead leaves
dirt
small crumbs of anything on the kitchen tile floor
the tile floor itself (this is a new one--and quite interesting to watch)

You keep me busy.  Now that you know the drill, you don't even bother looking at what you find.  You just  shove it in your mouth as fast as you can, clamp down, and wait for me to pry it out while you fuss and thrash around a bit.  I feel like I do a good job keeping choking hazards and other grossness off the floor, but somehow you always manage to find something to get into.  I don't remember doing this as much with your brother--maybe I've repressed those memories.

On the upside, I'm really enjoying making your food and seeing you eat what I've made for you.  It's very satisfying and makes me feel better about all of the dog hair.  We'll see if I can keep this up once I go back to work in September.  No promises, but I'll try.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Ghost Stories, TeeBall, and Corkscrews

Wyatt:

So, we were just reading together upstairs, as we do every night before bed.  In the book we were reading tonight, a tour guide told a ghost story to Horrible Harry and the rest of his class.  The book mentioned "The Boogeyman" and I was a little nervous that you might get scared.  You, however, could hardly breathe you were laughing so hard when I read his name.  You kept repeating, "Boogeyman?  Boogeyman!" and cracking up.   Apparently you assume he has something to do with boogers.  Works for me!


Today you had your first tee ball practice of the year.  We have been having extremely unusual and fabulous weather for several days, and we were happy to start this season in the 70s instead of the 40s.  Daddy is the head coach this year and I am the team mom.  To be honest, I've been a little anxious about tee ball this year.  It's scary how similar you are to me when it comes to competition and wanting to be the best.  I try my hardest to be gracious and be a good sport, but anyone who knows me knows that I ALWAYS want to win and I ALWAYS want to be right.  I don't care if it is playing along with Jeopardy, scrabble on the iPhone, or even just an impromptu discussion--I want to come out on top.  It's definitely not my best quality, and unfortunately you have inherited some of that.  I'm sure it was inevitable--you had to get at least of few of my genes.

Anyway, last year we had some issues of you not trying your best or even quitting if something didn't go your way on the field.  This happens sometimes with board games and other activities at home, too.  Daddy and I spoke to you about how you are one of the older kids on the team now and how you will be an example.  Then we both held our breath and hoped for the best at practice today.  You were FANTASTIC!  You hustled, you tried your best, and you had a great attitude.  I hope this sets the course for the season.  You have so much more fun when you can just let go and not worry so much about who's the "winner."  We also played a few rounds of kid-Monopoly today and you were very sportsmanlike throughout (even when I won).  It's pretty neat watching you mature and grow every day.   


Speaking of growing, you are exactly 47 inches tall with your white sneakers on.  So close.  You and I are on a mission, fueled by healthy food and plenty of play and sleep.  You have to be 48 inches tall by the end of summer.  For several years in a row Daddy and I have gone to Cedar Point on the Friday before Labor Day.  All of Ohio and most of the surrounding states are already in school by that time, so we have the park to ourselves (barring a few Canadians and some stowaways from Michigan).  This year we've decided to make it a family event, so you just HAVE to be 48 inches tall.  48 inches is the golden measurement--an all-access pass to the Millenium.  The Magnum.  The Corkscrew.  You are just dying to go on these coasters, and I am right there with you.  We were both concerned about you growing a whole inch in only six months, so I did some research about it on the Internet.  It turns out that children grow an average of 2 1/2 inches per year, and that kids grow more in spring than in any other season.  With this new found knowledge, we are both fairly confident that this inch can and will happen.  We'll check your height again around the end of school.  If we haven't seen a lot of progress, we may have to start stretching you or something.  Maybe we could put you in a taffy puller like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Hey, it worked for Mike Teevee...