When the first little bawling, bouncing babe showed up in my life, he seemed so little – so tiny! Such a delicate appetite.
Time marched on. He sprouted, was joined by his multitude of siblings, and they all grew and grew and grew. And ate and ate and ate.
The half banana servings grew into an entire banana and turned into “Mom, Lucas just ate four bananas and there are none left and I’m STARVING!”
Three sparing bites out of a yogurt cup morphed into a gangly teenager walking around with an entire carton and a spoon.
I stash the chocolate like I’d hide booze from a wino. I have literally buried myself in a closet so I didn’t have to share my Toblerone. I *may* have done this very thing yesterday…
When I held that first tiny baby on my lap, no one clued me in to HOW. MUCH. THEY. WOULD. EAT. and that they would bring their equally hungry friends over to pillage the pantry.
Had I known, I’d have started a savings account akin to an RESP. Personally, I think that my grocery bill should be tax deductible. These kids literally NEVER STOP eating. My 8 year old, whom we call “Catelli”, due to his amazing resemblance to a stick of spaghetti, eats more than I do. Ironically, people on the street always give me the side eye thinking I’m starving the skinny little bugger.
In our house, whole boxes of crackers are considered single serving. A entire can of soup is “too small, mom,” and a dozen eggs for breakfast isn’t quite enough.
I spend all my time either shopping for food or cooking it. I feel I should have a FastPass for Costco, AND Elite shopper status at Sobeys.
The biggest gastronomic mistake I have made so far in my parenting journey is instilling a love for sushi in my offspring. I just wanted to share my love for sashimi. Built in sushi dates! How brilliant! I had no idea that one day I would have to take out a line of credit to pay for my 14 year old’s sushi order. So now, I sneak off to have a surreptitious bento box at lunch while they are at school. I can’t even post my spicy tuna roll on Instagram anymore without the fear of getting busted by my social media savvy kids.
So tonight, as we sit down to a meal that consists mostly of economy brand spaghetti, I marvel at my little tribe of gourmands and how big they’ve gotten, how far they’ve come and I’m thankful for their quantity over quality appetites. But I’m still not sharing the chocolate.
Hive of Five 