Fair Food

In spite of all the noise I make about organic, unprocessed, healthy food, I have a serious weakness for Street Fair food. I could eat funnel cake until I barf; and I think a fair without Italian Sausage is no kind of fair at all.

We visited the Greater Lauraville Fair today. C has been really off and on with her napping, and while a day with two kids and no nap is REALLY long, I am excited about not having to return home halfway through the day anymore. Some of my favorite people live in and around Lauraville, a neighborhood in Northeast Baltimore, and one of J's current obsessions lives there, so off we went.

C enjoyed the lemon sticks, J ate his weight in Kettle Korn, and I, of course, had an Italian Sausage with peppers and onions.

In fact, one of the reasons I am so hyper-controlling about food at my house is because I know I can't control it everywhere else. And I'm ok with that. If I know my family is eating well 75% of the time, I think we are doing pretty well. A drive through McDonald's ice cream now and then, or some nuggets at the zoo, or funnel cake, isn't the end of the world when it's not an everyday thing. And I am NEVER one to turn down food offered to me. I love anything I don't have to cook.

I try very, very hard to stay away from corn syrup, too (not just HFCS, but all corn syrup) for the same reasons we have restrictions on TV. No, it is not going to kill us if a little sneaks in. But it just isn't NECESSARY. Why chose the less healthy option if there's a better one out there?

I also totally get that I am part of the privileged middle class who can afford to choose organic most of the time; who has access to several well-stocked grocery stores, and not just a selection of fast food places and the over-priced corner store and their one moldy apple. I also know that I have the benefit of time to prepare food, which not everyone has. But I think we are all just trying to do the best we can with the resources and knowledge that we have. And today, that meant sausage and popcorn for lunch. And dinner.

Thanks for reading,
-Anne

Manners

We don't go out to eat much. Between my husband's schedule, the diet restrictions, and the fact that almost anything I like to eat I can cook faster and better than in a restaurant, there's not a lot of motivation to head to a restaurant.

We live in a neighborhood with plenty of food choices. Lots of bar food, some Asian and Asian-inspired, and of course plenty of seafood. We could eat out every night for a month and not go to the same place twice.

But the main reason we don't go out is the nightmare my children become when seated (and I use that word lightly) in a restaurant. Just thinking about what it might be like makes me tired.

The 2 year old just wants to run at top speed in circles and zig zags all the time, everywhere she goes. She's also fond of physically pushing her brother all over the place, crashing them both into things. The six-year-old is patient enough, but he's got a 20 minute limit at a restaurant until he really wants to get up and walk around, or climb under the table. Add hunger and overstimulation to the list, and I don't really know why ANYONE goes out to eat with kids.

I feel like I'm missing some important piece of knowledge about how to make my kids sit down and be still for an hour and a half that every other parent knows. I know a few families who go out with their kids all the time, and the kids sit there and doodle and eat for like, 30 minutes straight. If my kids are at the table at home for ten minutes, I consider that a successful meal.

It's not even a case of the kids not being able to sit still, at least the older one. Today, he kept himself entertained with a maze book and a microscope outside his sister's music class for an hour, quiet as a mouse. He pays attention quite well in his classes and co-ops, so that's not a problem for us either.

At home, we eat dinner as a family whenever we are all there. Even when H is gone, I sit down and eat with the kids, so we have that "family dinner" experience almost every night. We do all the right things, like keeping the TV off, using real napkins and real dishes, have polite conversation, don't allow toys at the table, and generally enjoy each others company. But it's still really QUICK. We aren't in a hurry, but we all sort of eat and then move on. The kids take their own dishes to the counter and we move on to the next thing.

The set-up of the house contributes to this, I think. It's all one room downstairs, so if you want to go draw or read after dinner, we're all still together, chatting and playing. No one is scurrying off to the bedroom and hiding. No one is left alone to clean up.

I know someday I'd like to go out to dinner, all of us. But I'm not sure how to make the leap from the seven-minute dinner to a leisurely long meal with appetizers and entrees and desserts. And someone else doing the cooking and cleaning up. If you have a kid who can sit for a long time at the table, what's your secret?

Thanks for reading,
Anne

PortSchooling

We're homeschoolers. Not the strict school-at-home type, not the completely unschooling type, but somewhere in between, like almost every other homeschooler I know.

Today has been an excellent example of how it works for us.

We woke fairly early, at 6:30 instead of the usual 8am. The weather forecast was set to AMAZING. A little cool, a little breezy, everyone in pants and sleeves.

After walking the dog, and returning her home, J, C and I went to the coffee shop where the kids shared a gluten-free muffin and I had a gigantic coffee. J said, "It's such a nice day, can we walk around our neighborhood?" The extreme heat and humidity of this summer had really put a damper on our favorite activity, and he was clearly excited to be outside without being miserable.

He asked to go see the "Fred Head," the giant hollow head of Frederick Douglas, on display outside of the Frederick Douglas Issac Meyers Maritime Park and Museum on the opposite end of the Point. On the way there, he asked, "Who was Frederick Douglas anyway?" So we talked about slavery, both historic and modern, about racism, and about how important it was to stand up for human rights.

The Maritime Park also has a shipbuilding shop, and we took a peek. We'd been inside a few years ago, but it's not toddler-friendly, so we'll go back when it's just the two of us sometime.

When went back home, kitted up with water and snacks, and went to Irvine Nature Center . The displays there are great for all ages, and the grounds are just beautiful. We built a fairy house, talked about snakes, and took lots of pictures in the woods, like of the PigTree above.

After lunch, J will go to a yoga class he attends twice a week at a local private school, and then we'll come home, and maybe throw in a worksheet for fun. Or not, considering C had a ten minute nap in the car and will probably be a screaming hellion by the time 5pm rolls around.

Not every day is as wonderful as this one, but if I had to say what a perfect day was for us, this would be it.

Thanks for reading,
Anne