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Flavor of the Week

Am I the only mom whose kid goes through these passionate love affairs with a specific food, only to suddenly shun them without warning one day?

Maddie’s always been a pretty good eater; as a baby she’d eat just about anything and I smugly assumed that would continue through toddlerhood. I’d listen pityingly to my girlfriends moan about their kids’ refusals to eat veggies and think, “Glad I won’t have that problem.” She doesn’t refuse them completely now, but she is much more enamoured of pasta and cheese than I’d prefer, and broccoli, carrots, and the occasional asparagus (NO CORN!!!!) are about all I can get down her. Thank you, Lord, for Veggie Booty.

Highest on her list, though, has always been fresh fruit, and at first her preferences followed the seasons. Last summer she ate a lot of berries, then fall came and it was apples, and so on. But for the past couple of months she gets this craving for a specific food and God help you if you don’t have it on hand.



Just today, for example, Maddie rediscovered blueberries. Not usually a big deal, except for the fact that they’re woefully out of season and about $7 a pint here right now! I’ve been periodically offering her dried blueberries and been constantly rebuffed. But a few days ago I found some pints at the grocery store for $2/pint and snatched a couple up, figuring I could freeze them or use in smoothies. Maddie discovered them today while rummaging through the fruit drawer (yes, I let her go through the produce drawers – there’s worse things than her asking for some carrots or fresh dill) and became wildly excited. “Boobeyes! Boobeyes!!” she said half accusingly, as if I’d been holding out on her. By day’s end she’d pretty much finished off an entire pint by herself.

And while her obsessions are usually found in the fruit aisle, she’s also known to go for random things. Right now she’s on a huge oatmeal kick: she talks about it to herself in the middle of the night, makes bowls of it in her play kitchen, and asks for it three meals a day. Every morning for breakfast the kid eats two adult-sized bowls of cooked oatmeal and practically licks the bowl clean. With nothing else in them but cinnamon and soy milk, I’m at a loss as to what the attraction is, but who am I to argue? We get up in the morning, head into the kitchen, and I say, “Maddie, what would you like for breakfast?” “Oat-Meal!” she grunts in a satisfied, anticipatorily, almost predator-like way. It’s a little scary.

Since she’s always obsessed about (at least somewhat) healthy foods, I don’t worry too much about it; perhaps her body is craving a bunch of a certain vitamin or something. But I always get into her food addictions and start buying in large quantities, anticipating the terror and drama that would ensue if we ran out of, say, mandarin oranges or peaches. And I always misjudge and end up with a bowl of rotting fruit or stacked bags of soy chips or whatever the case may be.

I tell you, it’s a fine line of keeping the beast fed but not overstocking the pantry. Which means that right now, I’ve got three jars of mandarin oranges, two bags of soy chips, and a freezer full of strawberries – all products of recent fads.

So we’re proceeding one Quaker Oats drum of oatmeal at a time.

But I do make sure to buy another one before we get below the ¾ line. I figure, I can always make cookies.

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