Our Kitchen. I've been watching the HBO series The Sopranos over the course of the last few weeks. The show follows the Italian mob in New Jersey, and usually potrays the characters eating huge feasts of pasta and wine. I have no Italian heritage that I know of but I do love pasta. CJ went to dinner with his dad last night so I decided to make Mia and I a Baked Ziti, accompanied by a cup of Almond Milk for her and a glass of red wine for me.
I started making our meal as soon as I picked her up from school. The total preparation took about an hour. I put a movie on in the family room for her. I knew she was hungry because she would run into the kitchen every ten minutes to look in the pantry. I sliced her off some parmeasan and mozzarella. She didn't like the parmeasan.
Around 4 o clock I put the ziti in the oven to bake for an hour. I joined Mia downstairs to watch the rest of her movie. She fell asleep around 4:30. By the time she woke up around 5:30 I had already eaten. I made her a plate, and settled in because I've been here before.
Like any kid, Mia doesn't trust new food. Even though I've made ziti before, she has never been brave enough to eat it. I think she sees the chopped basil and diced tomatoes and figures its not for her. I wish she would just understand it's a heightened version of macaroni and cheese.
She assumes the position of a child who is defiantly rejecting a meal. She turns her head away, she won't even look at it. The sight disgusts her. Our dog Gussie on the other hand won't break her stare at the mound of food. We typically don't feed Gus table scraps but she has gotten lucky from time to time.
I have one of my Spanish lessons playing while we wait. I'm a little tipsy so I start blurting out the translations. It makes Mia whine and Gussie moves to the other side of the high chair.
It's 6 o clock and Mia has still not touched her food. She tries an old move and stands up in her seat. She looks at me for a rise. In the past she would have gotten one. But I'm starting to realize that Mia is one of the most cautious kids I've ever seen. We were in an elevator the other day and she crawled over the gap left under the open door. I called her bluff, I didn't react. She sat down.
It's around 6:40 when the little girl finally gives in. She delicately pinches one of the pasta tubes and nibbles on it. She seems relived it's not poisonous. She takes another tube and peels it lengthwise and eats it in strips. Around 7:00 she has finished all but a few pieces. I took it as a win and gave Gus the rest.
I won this battle, but the war is far from over.
