Food Fight

My eldest son is an Italian through and through. At the beginning of my pregnancy with him, I had quite an insatiable craving for raw garlic. I literally purchased 5-6 heads a week and would eat them straight up. I remember going to the grocery store and keeping one out of the bag that I could peel in the parking lot and eat on the way home. My poor husband would say, "I can smell it through your pores!" It seemed that a very hungry little Italian was in my womb, demanding ingredients for a Sicilian feast. 

Thus my little Italiano was born. My boy loves his marinara sauce. Pasta, garlic bread, meatballs, lasagna, mozzarella and above all PIZZA, are his favorite foods. I love to cook and I make almost everything from scratch. The past few months have allowed me the opportunity to learn how to make really interesting Italian foods. The Bear loves it and I love learning new methods of cooking.

Like most toddlers, I usually have to hog tie him during the day to get a full meal in his tummy. He is so busy most days that he barely eats until 5 or 6pm, at which time he literally eats his body weight. Unless I am serving up Italian food or some Cuban food, its a challenge to get him to eat during the day. But this Mama can only eat so much Italian food and as of the last few weeks, the fight is on!

Today Team Mom scored a few points. You will remember that I am a sucker for creative food. I discovered last week that my son shares the same weakness. I have started to decorate his food. Sandwiches with a smiley face cut into the bread, letting jelly eyes and a jelly smile peak through. Macaroni and cheese with a broccoli forest of little trees standing on it. A Spanish treasure ship that looks suspiciously like a small baked potato skewered by a toothpick with a white paper sail. Today I made a pirate face on his snack plate, with an eye patch made of black beans. He laughed when he saw it, and gobbled it right up.  Note to Self: when toddler acts up and refuses to eat, get creative!

This was a major victory. Especially since we had one very messy food fight yesterday. I served up a bowl of oatmeal and as I turned my back I saw it go flying right past me, propelled by the echo of a stubborn "Noooooo!"

Some days are really tough, but I love this age, even with the coming of independence and the stubborn fights that inevitably come with it. I love that I can have conversations with him. Mind you, here is what a conversation sounds like.

"Morning sweetie! Can you say good morning?"

"mo-gide"

"Thanks baby. You want some breakast?"

"Nannies. Chee-chees." (bananas and cheerios, please!)

"Ok, lets go find Frankie and then we will eat breakfast"

We walk into the room and Frankie comes running up to us.

"Gankie! Hiiiii Gankie!"

"Yup, there is Frankie. Ok now, here's your breakfast."

"Yaaaayyy. Mama, nannies?" (he offers me one)

"Mmmm" (Mommy tries not to cringe while choking down squashed up baby bananas)

"I love you baby boy."

"Dove, doooo"

A little bit later....

"Want your lechita and a nap sweetheart?"

"NO!"

"Ok" (I start walking away with the bottle only to hear him chase after me)

"mooooo"

"All right. Here is your bottle"

Seriously. These little conversations are starting to kill me, very slowly. What a way to go. Every day it seems like he has learned a new word, a new trick. Last week it was learning to spin in circles until he fell down dizzy and playing with trains on the coffee table. This week its throwing a ball and chasing after it.  He loves to bring me shapes and say their names (oh-val) and their colors (bluuuuuuuu). 

I gave him a buttermilk bath tonight and treated him to a little massage with my favorite lavender cream afterwards. He smelled (and looked) like a delicious little angel. I sang to him in the rocker and he played with my face and hair. He kissed me on the lips with a big "MWAH" when I said goodnight. 

I felt terrible all day. If I had a regular job, today I would have taken a sick day. But being a Mom, there is no such thing as a "sick day." I do wish I could have had an undisturbed day of sleeping, drinking OJ and broth, and resting my cold away. Instead I had a day filled with sticky jelly kisses and small train cars. 

Today I was a pirate and a bear. I made 400 animal sounds and colored with chubby crayons. I folded laundry, watched it get destroyed by a giggling tornado and folded it a second time. I nursed a baby 13 times and made 5 fun meals for a 19 month old boy. I read "The Cat in the Hat" and helped someone brush their very tiny teeth. I had the best medicine in the world today, because even when I am sick, I still get to be a mom.