Snow Day!

As you may know we got about foot of snow in the city. I had to share these pictures of frolicking in the snow.

New Year's Resolution

I admit it: I love self improvement campaigns (and self help books, although I've learned the hard way that most people don't love them as much as I do. While I would love a self help book as a gift, I've learned that most people....don't. Message recieved.). Anyway, as a logical extension, I LOVE new year's resolutions. This year, my resolution is to stop shopping for food. There are several reasons I really want to do this:

1) I hate shopping for food (or anything else) with kids in tow. I have 2 kids under 3 and no daycare. Need I say more?

2) I would rather have our family eat no meat than industrially produced meat; and although in the early years of Jenny and Andy Andy was willing to go along with my no-meat stance I've pretty much lost that battle now. So if meat we will have, then I don't want to buy it in a grocery store, unless the grocery store can guarantee the meat has no hormones and was raised humanely. Even if it can, see #1. '

3) I'm a pretty ineffective shopper, even without the kids. I only make a list 1/4 of the time, of the times I do go to the trouble, I without fail leave it at home on the counter. I usually wander around the store aimlessly and return with a random assortment of foods (mostly in the salty snack and frozen dessert categories) and nothing for dinner. I also always buy condiments that I'm sure we're out of, which is why we have approximately 8 backup ketchups in the basement.

I'm happy to say that a week into the new year and I think I'm 3/4 of the way to my goal. This is how I did it:

1) I'm continuing our weekly delivery from Boston Organics. We've been doing this since September and so far, I've been incredibly impressed with the service. We get a weekly box for $29 that is 2/3 vegetables and 1/3 fruit. Every 4th week I get a $39box for a little extra, and that mix seems to be exactly the right amount of produce for our size family. I love that the boxes are customizeable and that (unlike a csa) if you can't take your box one week (because you're away or whatever) you can just suspend your delivery at no charge. Also, I frequently make changes and deletions to my preference list and/or change my box size and they always get it right, customer service has been excellent. I haven't had to purchase produce at a store in 4 months.

2) we just re-enrolled in the Stillman's Farm Meat CSA. We were members of this CSA two years ago, and were really happy with it until we got three months in a row when the meat share was all or mostly pork. We had split a "full share" (20 lbs) with a friend, and as he noted when it was time to renew "I like the idea, but my freezer is starting to look like the US Congress." So despite the fact that we loved getting our meat directly from the farm, and being sure that it was all pastured, free range and hormone and antibiotic free, we didn't renew. But, I've confirmed with several people I know who are currently participating in the CSA that they've fixed this problem, so we're back with bells on. We again got a full share and are splitting it again with the same friend, so hopefully we won't be disappointed. I found last time that 10 pounds of meat a month is a little less than most families of 4 might consume, but because it's more expensive (the price per pound is about $7.75) than meat you buy at the grocery store, the overall meat budget is probably the same. I would much rather exchange quantity for quality, and Andy has fun making the meat stretch creatively.

3) I recently set us up with delivery from Thatcher Farm in Milton. In adittion to hormone and antibiotic free milk (but not certified organic) they also deliver all other dairy (cheese, yogurt, cream, etc.) as well as organic eggs, bread and other bakery products, juice and a few other items.

So, we've got produce, dairy, meat, and bakery covered. That leaves staples like grains, cereal, snack foods, canned goods, and laundry/cleaning items.

I have a peapod account, and I've used it. But overall, I'm kind of unimpressed with them. First of all, since there are so many categories of things I don't need to buy from them, my orders are small and don't hit the $100 mark where the delivery fee goes down. $10 per order for delivery is too much. I could order less frequently with greater quantity, but I've yet to get myself organized enough to plan what I need in these categories a month in advance (although, it's theoretically possible). Even so, they don't carry a lot of the things I like to buy when I physically go to the store, and they don't have a good selection of gluten free items, and they tend to only have one brand option of things. for instance there's a certain kind of saltine I like to buy for the kids that don't have soy in them, and although I can get them in the regular store I can only get standard saltines through peapod. So, I'm trying to figure out if I can use amazon prime (which has free shipping) to replace peapod. We'll see. I haven't actually tried it yet. Peapod is also OK for laundry/cleaning/housewares but again, they don't carry as wide a selection as I'd like and their eco-friendly products are limited. I'm hoping amazon is better.

Here's to 2010! I'm hoping to have to enter a grocery store less than once a month. So far, I haven't gone once since December 15th, but it's only January 7th so we'll see. What's your resolution?

some seasonal photos

Thought I'd share some Christmas photos. There are approximately 1000 of them, so I just chose a few at random. I got a large quantity of photos but none of them are particularly great. But you can see their Christmas PJs (courtesy of grandma, of course) and some of their gifts on Christmas morning.








And lest you think I forgot, as promised I finally got around to making Eli a matching hat - a year late and in a different color because I ran out of the original blue, but whatever. I just cast on Andy's, so they will have matching hats this winter after all.

here they are warming up after a trip to the arboretum with dad:

Christmas, blah blah blah.

Those of you know know me well know that I suffer from a chronic and serious dearth of holiday cheer (manic stocking knitting might provide evidence to the contrary, but the truth there is that I just really like to knit). Andy has managed to soften me up to it a little bit over the past several years, and having kids has done some work in that department too - but honestly, my inner core of grinch remains pretty intact. My anti-Christmas ire is complicated and not really worth exploring in this medium, but a Christmas hater like myself is put in a pretty tight spot when kids are involved. There are just certain things you have to do with little kids and I think pretending to be really into Christmas (provided you don't have a good reason to not be into Christmas, like being Jewish) is one of them.

So pretend I will (and do), but I have my limits. I'm not sure if this is the year I'm going to totally enrage everyone by refusing to get into Santa, or if I can put that off until next year. Either way, people will be enraged, you can be certain of that. I don't think Owen is really hip to Santa yet - he does recognize him (unfortunately, he's stopped calling him "Bobby" which he did all last Christmas season, and which I found hillarious) but the whole north pole/toy workshop/round the world in one night/naughty or nice list - I don't think we're there yet. I think we will be next year, and honestly, I just can't picture myself really going with it. I don't mind having Santa be any one of a number of fictional characters that we talk about/read about/watch but I don't see any reason that Santa can't be like Elmo. No one goes to elaborate lengths to convince their kids that Elmo is real, and kids seem to be pretty into Elmo all the same. And I'm pretty sure that my children will still be big fans of Christmas without us acting as if Santa is an actual real person. I'm not planning on denouncing Santa as a fraud, exactly, but the fact that Owen saw me purchase most of what is going in his stocking doesn't bother me one bit. If he has a tacit understanding that the presents he gets on Christmas are actually from me, so much the better, as far as I'm concerned. But then, as we've already discussed, I'm a grinch. A scrooge. Bah, humbug.

So anyway, here we go with the holidays. I'm tired already, and it's not even Christmas Eve. But for those of you with a more normal appreciation of the season, merry merry, happy, happy, cheer cheer, etc. etc. Lots of exciting things happening for Team Cox in 2011, or that's what it looks like from here anyway, and I'm genuinely excited about what's in store. So from our house to yours, enjoy the last few days of 2010 however you celebrate them (or don't), let me know if you didn't get one of our holiday cards and want one, and I'll be back in the new year with more misanthropy (and pictures of cute kids).

Add it to the list of things I did that my kids will never appreciate.

and boy, are my arms tired.

as predicted, Owen is now demanding he actually wants the Santa one. No, the snowman. No, the santa. So for this year, I'll just not put names on them and when he makes a firm decision I'll embroider their names. This year I think assigning stockings just might be asking for trouble. And why I didn't just make them the same, I'll never know. Chalk it up to parenting being a learning process.

and here's a photo of them together:



I really need to put a face on that snowman. But I've tried a couple times and it keeps coming out cruddy. I'll try again, since the santa has a face it looks bad that the snowman doesn't.

Christmas Ambition

So the good news is the stocking I've been knitting for Owen is finally blocked, sewn and finished (except for embroidering his name at the top, which I've been putting off in case he ends up wanting the Santa instead of the snowman). The bad news is that it's now December 1, and Owen's took me a good 2 months to complete. So my suspicion is that in the true second-child fashion, Elias won't have a stocking this year. Oh well. By next year...

edit: after I posted this I looked and the perspective is totally wonky in that picture. The stocking is actually a pretty good size but the foot is not that disproportionately big to the neck. I think it was the angle I took the photo at. Also, the colors look better in person. My phone is not the greatest camera.

Pet Peeves in Parenting, Chapter a billion

One thing that drives me insane is the constant (constant! constant!) offering of snacks to toddlers. If you want to see my head explode, send me an email that says the following:

Hi Moms!
I got this list of people signed up for the 9:15-9:45 movement class on wednesdays. I was wondering if you guys wanted to take turns bringing a snack! just sign up for a week!*

Why must everything involve snacks? It drives me crazy. Today, when I picked up Owen from his Monday class (at the one hour mark they, obviously, break for snack) I was told that he didn't want the apple slices I packed him, but did enjoy the animal crackers that they had, and boy did he eat a lot of those!

Right. So I'm going to explain something to you about kids. Humans, really. The reason Owen did not want his apple was because he was not hungry. the reason he then partook liberally of animal crackers is because animal crackers are cookies. When you offer children cookies, they will eat them. This is really not brain surgery. And of course, Owen came home and proceeded to ignore the (nutritious - or at least better than animal crackers) lunch I prepared for him. surprise, surprise.

Now I am going to say something that is going to make YOUR head explode, so before I begin, let me disclaim it. The following statement applies to my toddler. Yours has hypoglycemia/sensory issues/has a doctors note explaining he can only eat mechanicaly separated chicken. I beleive you. No, really, I believe you. You know all the ways you got your kid sleeping through the night? They don't work on my kid, so trust me when I say I realize that sometimes you just get an outlier.

that said, my kid will largely eat what is placed in front of him at breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I think this is because he is actually hungry at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Because I don't give him a snack every hour on the hour. Which is not to say that I never allow snacks. I think snacks are fine, and I have trouble getting from noon to 6:30pm without one too. But the sheer volume of snacks, and the type of snack provided that seems to be around us all the time is really undermining. Thursdays drive me crazy, because after our (45 minute) music class, without fail, the kids are offered chocolate chip cookies buy the site host. The class ends at 12:15. Seriously, people? So I have 3 options: 1. refuse to let my kid have a cookie when all other children have cookies, thereby being "that mom" and causing my kid to hate me. 2. Allow him to have a cookie, let him then refuse his lunch and endure the tantrum that ensues at 3 because all he's had for lunch is sugar and white flour or 3) go even further down the 'that mom' road and refuse to participate in music classes and/or other contact with the outside world, and homeschool (home music class?) in a safe, snackfree environment.

None of these options are good, are they?

The thing is, there is some food that tastes better than other food. This is just a fact of life. Goldfish tastes better than broccoli. So although I have seen Owen eat broccoli on many occasions, it usually does not happen an hour after he's been offered goldfish. the other day at the playground another mom offered Owen some of the goldfish her kid was eating at 4:30 pm. Of course he's going to take some, and of course he's going to eat a lot of them. Goldfish are extremely tasty crackers. My question is, why are you offering your kid, my kid, ANY KID snacks at 4:30? Unless you eat at 8? And if you do, well, then, see disclaimer above. But dinner for kids is usually around 5:30-6pm. And when MY kid arrives at dinner hungry, my kid will eat whatever is served. And because I would prefer that he eat nutritious food, I get really peeved by snacks.

and yes. I realize that I already am that mom. you don't have to tell me.

* first of all, she's not really wondering. That email means "sign up for a week or be shunned" and second of all, usually someone chimes in with "my kids are allergic to eggs, nuts, dairy and soy so if you could remember that when you pack your snacks I'd really appreciate it :)"