Jenny On the Spot

Ever since the week after Mother\’s Day, Joel has been in \”breakfast in your bed\” mode. The breakfast pictured here has your chocolate-chip cookie dough group, pop tart group and a banana - gotta get that potassium in somehow! Other things I have gotten are: cotton candy, waffles with a few chocolate chips sprinkled on top, dobs of peanut butter, bowlfuls of milk with sprinkles of cereal and cards. A few days ago we caught him before he could get out the syrup for the waffles. The past 2 breakfasts have been for dad (Father\’s Day is just around the bend!). His cuisine has been similar, however, he did get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich last time (Joel has been practicing making pb&j sandwhiches lately - and he is getting pretty good;).

As I refect on the content of the meals he is serving, I think about how much junk food it seems I have in my kitchen, and I want to be healthy!? Wait - I have excuses!!! The pop-tarts: I bought them to give with other goodies to a family we were taking a meal to (forgot to tell hubby of master plan, and he got snacky one evening:). The cotton candy: left over from the annual carnival (Viking Fest). I can\’t take my kids to a carnival without experiencing the epitome of carnival-ity! The waffles: dinner the night before - and yes… they were chocolate chip waffles…. ummm, blueberries are more expensive than chocolate chips??? Peanut butter: it\’s all good!!

Cookie dough: left-over baby-sitter goody treat. This deeserves it\’s own paragraph. Apparently our very wonderful sitter (really, she\’s great!) skipped a step with the kiddies. I should mention to her \”raw cookies\” are not actually \”cookies\”. This was not the first time, but I forgot about it before. I let Joel have a little dough here and there (I love raw dough just like any other normal, healthy woman), but not the entire dessert allotment of cookies for my 4 year old! I digress… back to breakfast…

It seems attention is now on Dad. We don\’t want to stifle this natural inclination to serve, to be thoughtful, and to be generous. So, we are teaching Joel about milk and cereal portions (milk is so expensive these days!!?). We are going to help him learn the theory of \”once a week\”, maybe twice… And, of course, help him learn what a well-balance breakfast contains. He\’s been serving us what he would like to be served. This is an awsome stage, I want to encourage and help shape this behavior. How blessed will his future wife be if we manage to handle this one well!