'Monster eating rice cake!'

Roman has a new snack pot that I thought we'd try out today on the go and as soon as it was in his hands he was in love with it. I filled it with apricots, which he wolfed down very happily and while we were out I filled it with rice cakes. He was a bit strange with the rice cakes so I pretended the monster was eating them. 

"Monster eating rice cake," Roman told me, stuffing one of the rice cakes between the monsters 'teeth.' I think he's quite smitten with this little snack pot ;).

Pick & Mix Dinner.

I took these photos to show you, when you're older, the kind of foods you ate as a toddler. The kind you loved, begged for and that sometimes it wasn't all me forcing you to eat vegetables (not that I ever do, mind you) and healthy things. A mixture of pineapple fingers, lumps of mild soya cheese, gluten free oatcakes (because they were cheap and full of fibre-rich seeds) with herb soya cheese, Jelly Tots (vegan, to my surprise) and plain Hula Hoops are sometimes the dinner time order.

The first thing you go for? The lumps of cheese. Then you move onto the pineapple. I'm surprised that your first choices are fairly healthy...because if it were me at two years old I think I'd annihilate the Jelly Tots (which I now despise) and then move onto the Hula Hoops, eating the healthier things last ;). You're different, your tastes are different, tastes expand with every generation as more and more previously exotic foods become normalised. 

In my childhood pineapple came in tins or if someone could be bothered to hack it up you could buy a whole pineapple and chop it up. For you it comes ready chopped; either as chunks or whole in a packet. It comes tinned, too; chunks or rings, take your pick. And it comes dried; as crisps or chunks. Choice is massive, even for something as insignificant as pineapple. Oh the future is so vast and exciting - I can't wait to see what's next.

A Little of What We Fancy.

I headed out of the door very late today - so late that the shops were long closed on the high street - and wrapped Roman up in a hand knitted hoody, jacket and for extra warmth I threw a blanket on top of his knees and tucked him in. Oh it was crisp, but it was cold - autumn is here and it won't be long until winter nips our hands and feet.

When we were shopping I spotted some vegan cakes in the supermarket and snapped them up. "Vegan cake! Vegan cake! Vegan cake!" Roman chanted on the walk home, tucking into a (synthetic) cream cake all the while. My reasoning is that a little of what we fancy won't harm us...and it makes me laugh that people can accuse me of 'depriving' Roman because we don't feed him McDonalds, Burger King meals or Kinder chocolate products. If only they saw these moments of indulgence and just how much there is for little vegan boys to be treated with.

'Want Lolly.'

I know I shouldn't indulge the cheeky you (and I often succeed at not doing so) but today after your nap you raced to the kitchen; begging for rice cakes, biscuits and lollipops. It's nearly been a year since you had your first ever lolly, from this batch of lollies that sit in our kitchen, and you haven't looked back since. Almost every time you spot them, you'll ask for one and often I tell you that lollies are special and you don't get them every time you ask...still you persist to ask ;).

So as I handed you a lolly I decided to sink the sugar ship and give you a biscuit with it, too. We're not a household that has a lot of sugar laden treats so I don't sweat the small treats you do have. I know that when you're an older child, a teen and an adult that you'll make wise food choices because I have complete confidence in our parenting that we'll guide you towards the choices that will lead you to good health. But please, enjoy your food and don't feel like you can't enjoy it. There's a whole world of tastes out there, waiting for you, and lollies? They're just the tip of the iceberg, my son.

Sweeties.

No childhood is complete without an overdose of sugar now and then, right?

Right.

So today when I found these forgotten about Jelly Tots (and I did a victory dance when I discovered they were vegan) in the back of my storage cupboard. Roman likes them but more than anything he loves to share them - seriously. I have never met a two year old that loves to share his sweeties so much and I can tell you he didn't get that from me or Bryan. 

Roman likes the sweeties fine enough but he won't gobble them up quickly; he likes to pick them apart and peer at what's inside and I would say that he prefers his vitamin over these sweets ;).