Parker and I had quite the action packed weekend while his Dad was out of town. On Saturday, we went to a Cartoon Festival at Symphony hall and on the way there did one of our favorite things, eat.
Since parking in that area is virtually impossible, we rode the city bus (one of Parker's favorite things to do) and ate our breakfast on the way. We were in a hurry so I stopped at Junebug, my favorite cafe and picked up an egg sandwich. I am in love with the breakfast sandwiches there but I wasn't sure how Parker would like it. He's not a picky eater at all and 99% of the time he eats what I eat and likes what I like but every now and then he surprises me.
For instance, I still can't understand why he doesn't like mashed potatoes. It just doesn't make sense to me that any human being, not to mention a kid, would not just swoon at the sight of a big, buttery mass of masheds. I can barely make them without eating at least 5 or 6 spoonfuls before I plate them.
But I've recently decided not to force the issue because he doesn't actually NEED mashed potatoes anyway. Sure it's a vegetable but they don't pack much of a nutritional wollop and their richness could help him develop a strong palate for other rich, highly caloric foods. And I've read that white potatoes can cause a sharp spike in blood sugar levels followed by a subsequent crash.
This spike-crash phenomenon in foods like white potatoes, white rice, white flour and sugar is believed to create a cycle that puts your body into almost constant hunger mode. And what you ususally end up craving is something sweet which causes the cycle to start all over again.
So I've given up. If he doesn't like them, I will no longer force the issue. Doesn't seem worth it except that I no longer get to eat the mashed potatoes he invariably leaves on his plate. Dang.
Back to the sandwich. It was a pale yellow, fluffy egg on a croissant with cheddar cheese, fake (veggie) sausage, and what must have amounted to copious amounts of butter. Yum, yum and yum! The fake sausage is so good, I almost don't believe it's fake. I mean how could veggie sausage POSSIBLY taste that good? And I'm more than a little scared to ask because if it turns out to be real sausage, my 15 year commitment to shunning red meat would certainly be tested.
So, as I should have predicted, Parker loved it. I knew he would like the croissant part and I thought he would end up eating most of the outside while I ate most of the middle. Cause Parker is definitely a bread man. If I let him, he would eat all bread, all the time. But surprisingly he was really more into the eggs.
Still, it wasn't really enough. I'd bought a sandwich for us to share and he ended up eating his half and a some of my half too. And when it was gone, he demanded more. "More sandwich, please," he said when I offered him an Odwalla bar that I'd packed for backup. He was getting upset, and I quickly tried to explain that our sandwich was gone and that we were already halfway downtown, a long way from Junebug. As I prepared for a meltdown, he seemed to accept the logic of my explanation and resigned himself to the Berries GoMega bar.
Disaster averted, we landed at Symphony Hall where Parker enjoyed cartoons, performances, face painting,
AND (drumroll please) a lollipop. See? I'm not a total health-nut-nazi-mommy. :-))
Pic at the top is Parker jamming with a band. Note the look of intense concentration. :-) Pic at the bottom is Parker completely exhausted from our long morning.
