Monday, October 20, 2008

well played

well played #1
for dinner tonight, i made potatoe leek soup. grace, my picky eater / not a fan of onions daughter, walks in the kitchen when just the leek and butter are cooking in the pan.

grace: "what's for dinner?"

me: "potato soup."

grace: "what's that cooking in the pan?"

me: "it's a vegetable."

grace: "what kind of vegetable?"

me: "leek."

grace: "what does leek taste like?"

me, (very enthusiastically): "oh grace, wait and be surprised."

later at dinner:

grace: "i just love this soup."

yes, on occasion i can be capable of some brilliant parenting. i doubt grace would have loved the soup so much if she knew leek was in the onion family. oh, and it probably didn't hurt that dinner was really late tonight and she was starving.

well played #2
how fun was it to have phil's dad at the pit stop on amazing race last night? i still stand by my belief that phil is the best reality t.v. host.
the clip doesn't show the best part where phil's dad offers to give the last team a hug because he feels so bad for them. the dad is also crying with the team. so sweet.

well played #3
for whatever reasons, my youngest two love caillou. for those who haven't had the pleasure, caillou is "...just a kid whose four" (trust me, the theme song is going through my head as i write this) and also happens to have the whiniest voice to hit the planet. but today, as my kids were watching, i overheard a difference. sure enough there was a new episode, and "they" (producers, directors, voice animators, angels, godsends??) decided to have caillou speak in a voice about 30 DECIBELS lower than usual!!! hallelujah!! how sweet it is! so thank you, thank you PBS for listening to what i can only imagine was throngs of preschool parents begging for respite from that voice. (really isn't having to hear our own children when they whine enough?)
yes, i do realize that i could just say "no" to my kids watching this show; but alas, i have some weak parenting skills too. sometimes it's just easier to give them what they want, n'est-ce pas?

9 comments:

Jeanie Hinckley Rennie said...

I can't believe that I didn't know that Amazing Race was on again. Have I missed much? When is it on? Glad to hear that Caillou has a less whiny voice now, when Maggie watched that show he would drive me crazy (I still wonder why he's four and has no hair though).

Scrappycook said...

First of all, I find starving my kids to be an excellent way to get them to try new foods. I too have enjoyed many successes this way. Second, Calliou has been banned from our household - and I NEVER let Barney in. Self-preservation.

Elizabeth said...

I remember when Sophie discovered Calliou, I never understood why the parents rewarded Calliou for whinning. Now that she is older, she agrees with me. Too bad my boys still occasionally watch it. Thank goodness there are many other shows. My favorite is Little Bear, I don't think I will ever get tired of it. Would you mind sharing the potato and leek soup, when you have time?

susan m hinckley said...

I echo the request for potato and leek soup -- Russ is a leek nut.

misswendy said...

I had many battles with Andrew over Caillou. You know how Andrew imitates everything and I would ban Caillou and then Andrew would constantly ask for Caillou and then I would give in and let him watch it and then he would imitate it and then I would ban it and then...well, it was a vicious never ending Caillou cycle. Luckily, we broke Andrew of the Caillou before Maddie discovered his Royal Whineness. Now Maddie is way into Saddle Club, a show that is not so annoying as much as it is vomit-worthy. Didn't Gracie go through a Saddle Club phase? I swear I have this vague memory of you warning me about that show. Too bad I didn't listen.

natalie said...

Very nice April. I wish I could fool Emme with my dinners like that. Calliou, blah. Emme loved that show, I'm glad Andrew thinks it's a show for girls, I don't argue. I swear Calliou says the word "sucks" in his theme song... If anyone knows what he really says, let me know

sorichfamily said...

sounds like a great parenting day...plus you were oh so right...how can it get better!!?? amen to the caillou thing...but maybe they have changed...yea! and the soup sounds amazing...one of my faves!

Maria Rose said...

I love your sneaky veggie trick. I do that with my husband when I cook peppers.If I disguise them he likes them just fine.

Explore & Grow said...

Funny leek soup story!

quotables

"is that lily holding baby lily?" -lily's response when i showed her a picture of gracie holding her when lily was a baby.

"drama class is actually a lot of fun." -gracie (this is only humorous in that grace seemed surprised by how much she likes drama class. this from my child who we refer to as "a drama queen" when she is not around.)

"mom, you can go with my teacher and i'll stay home with japie and evan. daddy can go to work, and i'll be the mommy" -lily, in response to learning that she would be going to preschool next year instead of this year.

"mom, if you don't get rid of that smell soon, you're going to have to buy a new car." -gracie when it took me a couple of days to clean out my car after returning from a road trip.

"mommy, they have dress-ups for you!" -lily while walking by the prom dress section at macy's.

"i said the prayer "last"-erday." -lily's replacement word for "yesterday."