Breakfast options

JJ when asked if he wants a cereal bar or yogurt for breakfast "No thanks, just ice cream.

What a day...

Up this morning and off to the Farmer's Market - Zoe's first since her arrival. Lots of fun stuff to see as it turns out because it is a Civil War reenactment weekend! JJ got to see his first spinning wheel in action (very cool). Then this afternoon we went to a friend's child's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. This was the first time JJ or I (or Zoe, for that matter) had been to a Chuck E Cheese. Oh my. I can't believe people actually pay to go to those things - it was insane! The noise alone was enough to make me want to run. JJ handled it ok, but was definitely ready to go within 30 minutes. We decided we were all too stressed out to cook dinner, so we stopped at Pho Mac on the way home for yummy cha gio (Vietnamese egg rolls). JJ, who turns up his nose at anything but macaroni and cheese these days, ate an entire egg roll and some rice noodles. Yeah! Then, during tummy time, Zoe turned over for the first time. WOW! what a day...

Weight loss - down below pre-pregnancy weight

Ok, so there's an upside to the stomach flu. I'm now 4lbs under my pre pregnancy weight and still losing. Whoohoo!

Downside is that apparently I'm having a hard time eating enough to keep up with the tandem nursing. I've been getting dizzy and light headed - here I thought it was a cold (inner ear stuff), but it turns out it's just me being hungry. Never thought I'd have trouble eating enough!

Broccoli, Please

Hooray! Last night we had porkchops, rice, broccoli, and carrots. JJ has started that "picky eater" stage, so I figured he'd have some rice then start angling for a cookie. But he dived straight into the carrots, woofed down the rice, devoured the broccoli (giving the pork chops a miss, but hey, beggers can't be choosers).

Then he looked at me and said and signed "More broccoli please!" and proceeded to have 2 more servings of broccoli!

That's my boy :)

Eating disorders and young children

Monday, I read this thoughtful story on how many of the "health" messages we are currently bombarding our children with are actually causing more problems than they are solving: http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2009/05/innocence-lost-health-messages-are-not.html

It makes sense.  Children don't have the capacity for discernment that we do - if you say something is "bad if you eat too much" then in their mind it's just "bad."  I found it disturbing to think that the media's over-the-top treatment of "the obesity epidemic" is perhaps encouraging children to starve themselves.  Food as fear.  And yet, am I surprised?  I guess not.  Certainly, I know enough adults who have succumbed to the "good food bad food" characterization - smart, clever people, that, if they thought about it just a little bit, would say that was a silly thing to do.  I can't count how often I've done it myself - having a piece of chocolate even though it's "bad" for me and will "make" me fat.  Silliness, that we let ourselves be drawn into because it's easy.  

So, now I wonder how John and I can make sure that JJ gets a much more emotionally healthy message about food, body image, etc.  Step one is obviously ensuring our own attitudes are well-balanced and sensible.  But after that, it will be teaching him how to examine information that he has been given and evaluate it for himself, to realize you can entertain an idea without accepting it, and to know that just because someone is louder/older/bigger than you, it doesn't mean they know what they're talking about.

Here's to critical thinking!