Nutritional Facts

Today Bug asked me if she could eat salad for lunch. 

I was immediately smug. "What kind of five-year-old asks for salad for lunch?" I wondered, rather satisfied with myself. "I am basically the Nutritional Mom of the Year. Hooray for vegetables!"

I took another bite of my own lunch- warmed up leftover steak on processed white bread.I'm nothing if not a shining example to my offspring.

I dug out the bag of salad, and that's when Bug gave a detailed explanation about just what kind of salad she wanted. 

Verdict?

Plain iceberg lettuce with ranch dressing. Presence of a carrot shard may warrant punishment up to and including beheading of the offending parent.

Like I said. Nutritional Mom of the Year.

Speaking of nutrition, turns out we have more than one rather particular eater around here these days. This little ball of adorable has basically only one flavor profile available to him, so you might assume he would be pretty easy to satisfy.

You'd be wrong about that, unfortunately. It's sort of a long story, but essentially one day Mama came home from a doctor's appointment to find her Doogleberry's face and neck covered in hives. He had been contentedly munching a bottle of formula, which is pretty rare for him as Mama generally serves as the pantry, and every place that formula had dribbled had immediately erupted into red, angry hives. Suddenly the terrible eczema, rashes necessitating InstaCare visits, gassiness, and that one incident of projectile vomiting (FUN! Kid is capable of some real distance!) all seemed to make sense. A call into Doogie's pediatrician supported Mama's suspicions. Kiddo's little gut is sensitive to milk proteins.

Mama rather naively volunteered to cut out dairy, thinking maybe it wouldn't be a big deal. It's not a big deal, not really. It's worth it to see our boy so happy and comfortable, he'll almost surely grow out of it in a few months, and it's not that hard to remember. Pretty much the basic rule of thumb around here these days is "if it tastes good, Kris probably can't eat it." See? Easy to remember.

Sigh. These kids.

Worth it. 

Please pass the raspberry sorbet.