Maybe lunch goes differently at your house, and for your sanity I truly hope it does. Lunch time at our house is chaos at best. To fully understand this we have to back all the way up to breakfast.
My oldest daughter, The Munchkin (more on this nickname later), eats breakfast at 7:10. This is the precise moment during her getting ready routine that she is hungry and has not yet brushed her teeth. I prefer to eat with clean chompers, she doesn't like the minty taste to interfere with her food. To each their own.
Next to the table is the middle child, the only boy in the family, The Cowboy (again, nickname history coming soon). Being a toddler he "has" to help make his breakfast. This really means he wants to push a chair over to the counter and watch you make his food. It's not worth splitting hairs. But by the time we have worked together and his oatmeal is ready it is nearing 7:20.
Once The Cowboy is seated I wake up the youngest, The Ladybug. After a quick diaper change she joins The Cowboy at the table; The Munchkin has already finished and is brushing her teeth.
I pour my coffee and debate what sounds good. The answer is little as I am not really hungry when I first get up, my belly is flooded with coffee and I have the minty taste The Munchkin mentioned threatening to alter the taste of any food. About the time I pick something, The Munchkin is bidding her farewells, The Cowboy is signing 'all done' and trying to climb out of his booster and The Ladybug has proven once again that she is no match for a spoon. Nix breakfast.
Mid-morning I realize I am starting to get hungry. I find something to nibble. Yes, I am a grazer. I think that is one of the most common of the poor eating habits. So I stave off the hunger with a few crackers, a handful of gummy bears or a piece of cheese (man, do I LOVE cheese!). This may repeat a few times through the morning as we run errands, go to and from the preschool and manage the mundane of running a household.
FINALLY, IT'S LUNCHTIME!!
Despite counting down to this moment for the last two hours, it manages to sneak up on me nearly every day. I look at the clock every four minutes but still I get tricked as the clock jumps from 11:25 to 11:45 without warning. Then I am in a mad rush.
I fix the kids something from the limited repertoire: deli sandwiches, pb&j, nuggets, hot dogs...etc, you know this list well, I am sure. And at this point I realize, hungry or not, I have no interest in eating another lunch of hot dogs, pears and soda crackers. So I decide I will fix my own lunch once they are down for naps. Something great. Something tasty. Something healthy. Oh, it will be wonderful! I will sit with my amazingly perfect lunch and read my foodie magazine in the quiet. I can hardly wait!!
The Cowboy and The Ladybug finish their meals, either by consumption or overhand toss. I clean them up. I change their pants. And then, after tracking down each one's lovie, they head to nap.
But here is the predictable downfall in the storyline. Something always comes up. The phone rings, there is a knock at the door, I find I have just one email that must be answered immediately or, more often than not, one for the said nappers decides not to. Ugh. Nix lunch. Refill the coffee and commence grazing.
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