The third sign of spring, a dinner conversation, and good recent reads.

Elisabeth exclaimed excitedly this afternoon:  "Mommy!  I see the third sign of spring!!!"

I love how attuned she is to the things around her.  I saw red winged blackbirds at my feeder over the weekend.  That is my self-declared first sign of spring.  The red winged blackbirds stay here all winter, but for some reason they only eat at my feeders from about now until April.  So, I declared spring is on its way.

Then today, she found a blooming crocus - sign number 2.

The third sign is bees.  Or what Elisabeth thought were bees.  I think they were mayflies, but I agree - they're definitely a sign of spring.

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At dinner, Doug was on a conference call and I was feeding the two crazies.  Regarding dinner, I think we've done something wrong.  I wish I could turn back time.  I made the fatal flaw of not expecting them to eat what we eat and instead providing them "kid food."  This has (1) created picky little things - although not as picky as some kids and (2) led to both Doug and I losing weight since we never get to sit and eat our own dinners and instead of eating we get up and down and up and down a million times in a half an hour getting the various courses for the little ones.  Oh and I bet you think that at least I feed them the same kid food each.  Ha - joke's on you.

Charlotte starts with string cheese.  This is only after a fight, though, since some moron put NUMBERS on the string cheeses.  So Elisabeth has to pitch a fit about getting to pick the number that she wants.  And hey, maybe Elisabeth doesn't want string cheese, maybe she wants yellow cheese.  No shredded.  No yellow.  NO a quesadilla - handmade by her!!!  Then comes the bean course (black to be specific).  Usually they both like them, but sometimes only Elisabeth.  Then, the kids get some combination of "macn" (homemade mac n cheese), chicken nuggets, taquitos, scrambled eggs, white rice, sandwich, french toast, waffles, or other frozen delicacy.  On days that Elisabeth wants nuggets, Charlotte wants scrambled eggs.  Or, my favorite, they both claim to want nuggets and then you get them to the table and have them [im]politely declined.  And Lord help us all when there's only one serving of macn.  That almost always goes to Charlotte since she is the pickier of the two, and this sets Elisabeth off to moping that is truly deserving of some kind of preschool acting award.

Just to keep us literally on our toes, midway through dinner, the preferences change.  Elisabeth usually vocalizes this by politely asking for something else.  Charlotte expresses this change of preference by depositing whatever food is left on her tray on the floor.  Or, on occasion, launching it a bit farther.  If I'm lucky, I can avoid the thoroughly disgusting hand from landing on my suit pants.

Dinner is exhausting.  And, it is our own fault.  But, at least they eat.  And, they both seem to like vegetables.  So we're not the worst parents on earth.  Just hungry.

So tonight, I was a little tired of all of the up and down.  I asked Elisabeth if she was going to eat vegetables so that she could have dessert.  And heaven forbid the kid eats the absolutely wonderful oven roasted carrots that Doug made.  Even though she loves carrots.  She says yes, she wants green beans.  I did not hear a "please" in there, so I refused to acknowledge what she said.  I just said, "what?"  She kept saying she wanted green beans and I kept asking "what?"  So she started just going on and on and on.  Tired kids who ramble are pretty funny.  

E:  "Mommy, I want greenbeans.  You know - green beans.  In the fridge.  You heat them.  The ones in the bag?"  (She seems to think I'm genuinely stupid).

Me:  "What else?"  (with a leading tone in my voice)

E:  "Nothing else.  Just green beans.  I want green beans.  Green beans come from bags.  Bags come from the freezer.  All of our vegetables come from bags.  I want green beans.  You KNOW, mommy.  Green beans!"

Me:  "Yes, but what else do you say?"

E:  "If I have green beans can I have dessert?"

 

I gave up in frustration and let it drop for 10 minutes.  I figured (correctly) that when she really wanted dessert, she'd figure out how to ask nicely.

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Since I feel like all I ever talk about is my children, here's proof that I do more than just sit around and think of kid stories.  I have been reading a lot lately.  I've read quite a few good books (and some bad ones too).  Among the good recent reads:  The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, The Nine, The Hour I First Believed, and The Omnivore's Dilemma.  I'm about to pick up What Is The What by David Eggers - and I'm pretty excited about it.

Tomorrow's forecast is for some crazies in the courtroom.   We have one guy whose motion is simply titled "Complaint."  I cannot wait to see what his complaint is.  I didn't know you could use the Courts as simply a means of venting - but I might try it when I'm done with this job.  Lord knows I've got them.  I'll put my dinner dilemma on a motions docket and ask for guidance from the court.