Honesty

The other day, Nate and I decided to wash the car while Scarlett took her nap. It was a perfect day and we had tons of fun. Well, actually, I don't know how much fun Nate had after we finished and I took to spraying him relentlessly with the hose, but it was good time spent together. When I tired of soaking him, Nate and I got out the sidewalk chalk and played outside a little longer. The weather was perfect. It was getting close to Scarlett's wake up time and I needed to shower so I asked Nate if he'd like to watch a movie while I got cleaned up. He'd had a bath and snuggled into the couch as I sat next to him and snuggled into him while still in my swimsuit. As I got the movie going he looked up at me and said sweetly, "Mommy, your legs are fat."

Now, I've always had big legs. My sisters would call me thunder thighs. When I was playing tennis or volleyball or running when I was younger they were pretty tone even though they were no where near chicken-y. I've always wanted those beautiful, long, slender legs, but I know I'll never have them. I've accepted my muscular, short legs. They get me where I need to go. Regardless of the peace I've made with my lower extremities, this comment hit me pretty hard because it's kinda true. My legs aren't nearly as pretty as they used it be, if they ever where.

I said, "What did you say, Nate?"

"Mommy, your legs are fat."

"Nate, you shouldn't tell anyone that anything on them is fat."

"I didn't mean everything, Mom. Just your legs."

This left me flabbergasted. I feel like maybe there's genetic coding in males that they instantly try to backpedal when they say anything about a woman's appearance. At least not everything on me is fat! Anyway, he's only six, he's being honest, and he didn't mean it in a mean way. At what age do guys lose those excuses? I can tell you now, if Robert had said the same thing to me in the same way he'd be in the dog house!

Good times with Scarlett

Scarlett has such a personality that she is always keeping me on my toes. Recently, I've had a really hard time getting her to eat anything that is healthy. It's like she smells the nutritional content on things and turns away if it's fresh or runs straight towards it if it's processed. This is super frustrating for me for two reasons. The first is that it is uncharted territory for me because Nate was such a good eater. He ate better than Robert and I did. The second reason is that I feel like I work really hard to put good tasting, healthy dinners in front of my family every night. My family has a history of obesity and I want to do my best to teach my kids good habits so they can avoid struggling with it themselves. I have quite a soap box on this topic, but I'll save it for another post. So back to Scarlett. Just when I'm about to give up on her eating good food I made a wild mushroom and barley soup. I knew half my family wouldn't jump at the idea of it, but it tasted really good and it was loaded with goodness. Anyway, I put it in front of my family for dinner and Robert and Nate hesitated while Scarlett dove right in! It wasn't the prettiest soup I've ever made so I know the look of it was not what appealed to her. Whatever it was that drew her in helped her suck it down in record speed.
In this picture she had just finished her bowl and is reaching to finish Robert's. I was more than happy to keep filling the bowls for her.
Doesn't she look awesome? I felt awesome, too. She was full and it was with good food. What 22 month old loves wild mushroom and barley soup? Mine!
Quick change of topic. My daughter loves shoes! Yay! I sense many fun shopping trips in our future. I can't wait! It seems to me that every kid loves to walk around in their parents shoes. Nate did it and now Scarlett does it. I had to get some pictures.
I swear I have identical pictures of Nate looking exactly the same! They grow up so fast!