And we didn’t grown corn, but here are Siena and Thalia helping to shuck some:

Note, the “dub-dub dub-dub dub-dub” about half way through is a variation on a “fanfare” Siena taught her that they sing when they finish their salads. And then they like to proudly hold up their bowls to demonstrate they positively finished everything. And good thing, too, or else there would be some clean-up involved.

We thought Siena would like it, because it is very similar to corn muffins (which she loves), just with the consistency, in this rendition, of oatmeal (which she loves). We told her as much.

She took a spoonful, ate it, and announced as she often does, “I love it!”

Then, she leaned over to me, sitting on her right around the corner of the table, and whispered really quietly so that Mama (in theory) couldn’t hear, “Daddy, I didn’t really like it.” Of course, we could all hear it, and it was everything we could do to keep from laughing, since she was both trying so hard to give the appearance of liking it and also so hard to let me know what she really thought without hurting the chef’s feelings.

I suppose this is the evolution of the way she used to handle it, where after she’d say, “I love it!” to trying something new, and we’d say, “Great, do you want some more?” she would routinely answer, “No thanks.”

Of note: it takes her a long time to chew that huge hunk of bread. And we might have ourselves a lefty here.

I got the pepperoni and caramelized onion with rosemary sauce and mozzarella, natch. Also I grabbed the #18: mozzarella, rosemary sauce, baby spinach, artichoke hearts, and sweet potatoes. Exciting and yummy!

Late getting home, I ran in and found Siena and Thalia almost done with their decidedly non-pizza dinners.

Siena looked up at me and said, “Daddy!”

Thalia looked up at me and said, I jest not, “Da da.”

Hooray!

Now if we can just make that a conscious habit, I’m all set.

So far she’s been eating Cheerios, Kix, peas, grapes cut into twelve pieces, green beans chopped into 6+ pieces, and diced peaches. Carbs? Big thumbs up. Veggies? That’s going to require some work.

The other huge benefit (aside from very dirty sleeves), is that we can give her a pile of O’s and walk away and deal with something else. Something else usually means Siena. Or getting our own dinner ready. This has made Tuesday evenings (when Mama works until after the kids are in bed) a tad bit easier to manage; I can actually get some food of my own now, too.

Today Mama had a continuing education course on dental something-or-other. Due to inclement weather–buckets of rain–we stayed home all day. During Thalia’s two naps I vacuumed water out of our basement and read to Siena. Daylight savings started today, so Siena got up at the delightfully late time of 6:45 AM, but she didn’t go to bed until almost 9 PM. We actually got Siena reasonably well adjusted, she had lunch at 11:45 instead of an hour later, and we had dinner right around 6:30, which is our normal time. (Thalia is less easy to manipulate in terms of timing, so she will take a little longer to adjust.)

Ah, dinner. We went out to Firefly’s tonight. We were low on our home supply of the Dixie Kiss sauce, which always makes for a good excuse to go get some of the best BBQ in the Metrowest. Thalia had not napped much during the day, so she fell asleep in the car on the way there.

Siena asked for her own drink, a “Strawberry Breeze.” This is actually the name of the drink the had last weekend at Ruby Tuesday’s. Apparently it was so tasty it left quite the impression on her! We ordered instead a strawberry lemonade, which arrived in a massive mason jar. All three of us took turns drinking from it; had Siena drunk all that on her own she’d be up all night. And even though it wasn’t technically the Strawberry Breeze, it was still a success with Siena. Thalia woke up, so Mama fed her while Siena and I walked around, waiting for our food to arrive.

The next success came with the hush puppies. We had not tried this appetizer before, but it sounded good. Each deep-fried ball of bliss did have some onions and jalapenos, so I got Siena some baby corn from the condiment bar. However, the pups were mild enough and Siena was interested enough that we gave her some. She loved them! Success number two. She even liked the outside parts the best, and I later explained to her that the outside parts were the “toasty bits” (which she normally hates on anything), and she said, “The toasty bits were good!”

Dinner for Mama and Siena was pulled chicken with honey-glazed carrots and sweet potato fries (two new sides and both rated delicious). Siena ate mostly cornbread, carrots, and fries. I had ribs and pulled pork along with mashed potatoes and the yummy sweet-potato pecan pudding, all also very tasty. Though she ended up not liking it, Siena even tried one of the ribs.

Thalia never really blew up, though Mama and I did have to stagger our eating windows in order to walk her around a bit. It’s worth noting that walking around a 6-8 month old baby with a full head of hair sure does make you popular with the wait staff of restaurants, and the hair provides a natural subject of discussion to mitigate any awkwardness of talking with totally random strangers.

Back home, to bath, and finally, bed. And another vacuum session in the basement.

After she devoured her second drumstick, Siena said, “I want another drumstick please.” Mama was upstairs tending to Thalia at this point, so if was left to me.

Daddy: Siena, how many legs do you have?

Siena: One, two.

Daddy: And how many hind legs does Tenzing have?

Siena (looking around for Tenzing): One, two!

Daddy: How many hind legs does Nalia have?

Siena: Two

Daddy: How many legs does a chicken have?

Siena: Two!

Daddy: Well, drumsticks are chicken legs, and you ate two of them already, which means there are no more drumsticks.

Siena: No they’re not.

Daddy: Yes they are.

Siena: No they’re not. (this could go on a while…)

Daddy: Actually, they are. And you ate both, so there are no more.

Siena (moving one of the drumsticks from her plate into her salad bowl): Now’s there one!

Daddy: You still ate two.

Siena (moving the other): Now there’s none!

Daddy: Siena, there are no more drumsticks. Chickens have two legs, and you got the two drumsticks.

At this point, Siena got upset and petulantly said, “I’m going to go tell Mama that you said there were no more drumsticks.” I responded as she tromped up the stairs, “You do that, Siena.”

I then hear this exchange from upstairs:

Siena: Mama! Daddy said there were no more drumsticks!

Mama: Well, chickens only have two legs.

I shout up after them, “That’s what I said!”