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A few of my friends have been raving lately about green smoothies. I’ve been eyeing the recipes as a way to get something green into Zach’s body but have been very skeptical- mostly because I think it sounds gross. Hmmmm, maybe this is why Zach is such a picky eater, because his mom has food issues too…
Anyway, on the way home the other day, I asked Zach if he wanted a smoothie for snack when we got home. He said yes, and I asked him if he wanted pink, orange or green smoothie. To my surprise, he chose green. ”Ok buddy, but that means we will put leaves in it, is that ok?” He said yes, so when we got home we made our smoothie- orange juice, a frozen banana and some spinach. Zach was very excited about the spinach and kept adding more and more… puree and wal-lah, electric green smoothie. I poured it in a green cup, gave him a green straw and stood back AND HE DRANK IT! Not a lot, but enough. And the baby tried it too and sucked down an entire cup (no surprise, how many 11 month olds do you know that would do anything for falafel?) So after, my guinea pigs tried it, I gave it a tentative taste… not delicious, but not gross either. I made him a peach smoothie today- and he sent it back saying it needed “leaves it in”. Good thing the spinach is sprouting in the garden, ’cause we’ll be making more green smoothies!
The weekend here was glorious- warm and sunny and only slightly marred by Joe and I taking call. We spent most of the weekend at the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts. This is the first year Zach was big enough to take into the events. Saturday we saw some African drumming by Chata Addy and Sunday some of his preschool friends performed on the marimbas. Zach seemed to really enjoy himself- though it may have been the ice cream for lunch on Saturday
and the frozen yogurt for lunch on Sunday and not the music that sealed the deal.
Dejected Zach after his yogurt leaked out the bottom on the cone…
Even Joe and I got to enjoy some grown-up time and music. We left the kids at the babysitter Sunday night and went to listen to some music with friends. Can’t remember the last time that happened! Anyway, my new vow after this weekend is to have more music in our lives and more date nights for mom and dad. Good things for everyone!
For the last two years, Zach and I have been going to a co-operative preschool class for toddlers. Since Arlo was born, it has been our “Mommy Zach special time” and really has meant so much to both of us. I’ve made great mom friends through the class and Zach has developed some real friendships too. And today was our last day. I didn’t expect to be teary about it, but I will really miss our class and I just can’t believe Zach isn’t “pre-3″ anymore.
Teacher Nicole and Zach at the water table with two friends
I’ve learned so much about Zach (and myself) from class. He likes to observe things for a while before he tries them and he wants Mommy in arm’s length when he does. He is a little slow to warm up to new situations but then is a total fireball. And lately, he has actually been starting to share (!), take turns (!!) and help clean-up (!!!!). So I feel like the class is ending just as we are hitting our stride.
Zach and friends doing something important in the sandbox
As for myself, I think the class has really helped me with realistic expectations as a parent. It is great to see the other kids misbehave and then watch to see how other parents deal with the same issues we have. When Zach has issues, I always take it so personally, as some sort of defect in my ability to raise him. But that expectation of myself isn’t realistic. No parent and no child is perfect, we just have to learn to work together the best we can, not trying to be perfect, just “good enough”.
Each night when we put Zach to bed, we sing him a song. Recently, he seems to enjoy having us make up a song about our day. I have no musical ability at all, so the songs are pretty terrible, but he loves them. And now he sings songs back to us. We’ve had a rough few “Mommy Zach days” the last week and this was the song he came up with tonight while I was putting him to bed…
Mommy, I love you when you are angry
I love you when you are sad
I love you when you are frustrated
I love you when you go to work and when you pick me up
I love you when you are……. (long pause) different
So sweet, though I hope he is expressing unconditional love and not that he thinks I am a basketcase!
me letting Zach do this to Arlo or videotaping the entire thing….
“Hey Momma. Is it wake-up time?”
I open my eyes, Zach is two inches from my face. I check my watch, 6:10am. Sigh…
“Yes bug, it is wake-up time”
“Momma, I love you.”
“I love you too buddy.”
“Momma, you are a real great Momma”
“Oh thanks buddy, that means so much to me.”
“NO! No say it that way, say ‘that makes my heart feel warm.’”
“Ok, that makes my heart feel warm.”
“Mommy, I love you up to the sky”
“Oh that is so nice Zach, I love you up to the sky and back again”
Yesterday, Arlo said “Mama” for the first time. Too sweet. I was picking him up out of his bed in the morning and he looked right at me with a big smile while he said it. Zach was my witness. ”Hey Momma, you hear dat? I think he likes you!”.
Arlo eating black bean soup with his fingers…
Then this evening, he pulled himself to stand. He has been trying so hard to figure out how to get those chubby thighs in the right spot and he finally got it. He was pretty proud of himself!
Maybe it was the beans!
I love spring- I haunt the nursery to pick out flowers and I desperately want to plant my vegetable garden. So what gets in my way? Well they are very cute, and their names are Zach and Arlo. I have tried so hard the last few years to be a hands on mom, that I have really had to put my own priorities and interests to the side to take care of the kids. Today was such a nice day though, I thought I would take the kids outside and try to plant some flowers and veggies with them…
So it turns out, Arlo is a plant pulling, dirt-eating menace and Zach, who did great with the flowers, was a little challenged by the concept of “we don’t walk through the vegetable garden once it is planted”. So we may or may not have collards this year, just depends on whether they like to grow in footprints.
