Inspiration

My mommy friends are so talented and such a source of inspiration. E is an amazing DIY baby food chef. At any one time she has at least 10 ingredients in her freezer ready to compile into a yummy meal. For instance, at the time that I was inquiring about her "pantry", these were the items she listed in her freezer - asparagus, sweet potato, rice, quinoa, bell pepper, peas, turnips, white beans, pureed cherry, oatmeal...all prepared and flash frozen.
And from those ingredients, she tossed them in a pan or in the micro to create baby fried rice (mushrooms, rice, peas, ground beef, green peppers)
Or Indian Dal: lentils, half cube of sauteed onion, chunked mango and yogurt.
WHHAAAT? This woman is awesome!
Why didn't I think of that?? So, I am going to hunt down a regular old ice cube tray and try to do the same thing.
Right now, I make everything fresh, day of, hour of because I can't seem to get it together. However, because of E's genius I too have frozen and ziplocked some sweet potato, asparagus and some spaghetti squash.
Next up, we have K...she creates beautiful bento box lunches for her two daughters. I mean, this woman is a creative genius. Really. See pic below:
Look at that car and the stoplight...that is really cool! So, when Dillon gets a little bit older and is not so picky about her food textures, I, TOO am going to create beautiful little bento boxes for her! Who knows, I just might start making bento boxes for the whole family...Boulder, Greg...me. Portion control is what K likes to reference.
And the third person who inspires me is J. I was over at her house the other day and here is how a conversation went between her and her almost 3 year old son, Eliot:
E reaches over to turn on the TV, E: Look mommy! I can turn on the TV!
J: No, Eliot, you cannot...(then after thinking about it, she rephrases), Yes, Eliot, you can turn on the television, but you may not.
E: I can turn on the television
J: Yes, Eliot, you can physically turn on the television but you may not. (voice a little more stern)
I mean, that worked. E thought about it and then stopped trying to turn on the telly. I thought that was so well phrased by J and really found it inspiring that she is such a reasonable mother.
May I be that level headed when dealing with a talking, walking Dillon. May I always be level-headed when she is throwing tantrums and trying to "push her weight" around here...