Thursday, December 14, 2006
She cooks! ( He screams...) The events are unrelated...
Look! She actually cooks! Yes! (Even though that was yesterday…)
So, yesterday I finally got myself into my precious kitchen again and made a simple rice/chicken dish. Basically, you cook the rice separately. Then fry an onion and a few garlic cloves (I used 4), chopped, then add chopped chicken and fry a bit longer. Add veggies you have in the fridge (I happened to have carrots, celery and a bell pepper), chop them too. A bit of soy sauce (optional), a tablespoon or so of ketchup, salt, pepper, a cup of water, cover and simmer till everything is cooked (15-20 minutes). Then mix it all with rice, let it sit for a while and serve.
The best part is that my kiddo liked it. He has generally been on a very non-eating wave lately. Picky-picky and refuses everything. Even french-fries. I know french-fries are not good for kids, and I hate giving it to him, but when I see that he goes a whole day on a couple of spoons of cereal, I give in. He’s gotta eat something!
I think he is edging into those terrible twos a little early. The other day, we were out… Let’s just say I wanted to fall through the floor and disappear… And for all you people out there saying (or thinking) “control your children!” -- TELL ME HOW! I’ll be glad to. Really. Do you think I’m doing this on purpose? Have you ever tried to reason with a toddler? Telling him that “yelling is not nice” and getting any effect out of that? There must be some secret information on handling kids that I just don’t know. Sometimes I feel completely incompetent. I know I’m supposed to do something, but what?
(But don’t get me wrong. He’s generally a very good kid. He just gets in those moods sometimes… But don’t we all?)
There are these moments when it strikes me that soon I’ll have two… How am I going to handle two kids? Is it humanly possible? I’m getting bouts of panic more and more frequently now.
And then the kid does something wonderful. He climbs up on me, hugs me and gives me a giant smile. And he says “mama”. He makes me know that “he really, really loves me”…
And then I figure it will all be OK…
And that I’ll never watch another Oprah show…
PS: I don’t actually watch Oprah. But for some reason if I ever flip the channels and bump into her show, it’s some horror story about families in distress, kids with guns, postpartum depressions and husbands that are so insane I can’t understand how anyone ever married them… Though today it was different. Apparently the crisis of the day is that most women are wearing wrong size bras… Yup… Like I’ve got nothing else to worry about…
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You're not incompetent.
"Controlling" children is a fine idea, but not always realistic. Children have their own ideas and choose their own behavior - they're like people that way. As parents, we teach them the consequences of their behavior and motivate them to make the choices we believe are best, but they mess up. They're learning.
Adults mess up, too - they're no where near perfect. Consider how many grown-ups you've seen that can't hold their tongue or blow up at someone in public. It isn't fair to expect a child to be perfect all the time, especially when adults aren't and we've got the benefit of experience and fully developed brains.
Don't be too hard on yourself. You're doing a fine job and to hell with the people who don't think so. What do they know?
When the new baby comes, you'll be dividing your attention between two people, but so will your son. Some of his focus will shift to the new baby and he'll probably be a big helper most days. It'll mean more work, but it will also mean more love.
That meal looks delicious!
What Leslie said! I've done enough babysitting to know that there is no such thing as controlling a child in public.
(And what is it with that improperly-fitting-bra news story that gets it rehashed every few months or so? I must have seen it on at least four shows by now. We get it, already!)