Deceptive

Today, I made a solemn vow. I felt the need to self-improve. For the sake of me. For Camille and Liv. For Bill.

I decided from this day forward, I want to try a lot harder to be deceptive. Deceitful. Cunning. Sly. Sneaky.

Now doesn't this sound like something every mom should aspire to?

Okay, so let me explain.

In my house, we have horrible diets. I never used to eat so poorly as I do now. It seems like I seldom cook anymore, and when I do, the meal nearly always comes from a box or a bag. I have this problem with planning ahead in that I rarely do it. Livvy is a splendid eater, so it is easy to be a non-planner and at least know that with little effort, she will eat fresh fruits and veggies that are readily available. Camille, on the other hand, is the queen of picky and thrives on carbs. She will eat only bananas and applesauce for fruits and veggies are off limits. If we try to persuade her to eat even a green bean, she makes herself gag. Seriously. Plus, we travel a lot---to Detroit, Iowa City. Which means lots of chicken McNuggets. Lots.

You hear about the childhood obesity epidemic, and I truly believe it is a problem. Not that my girls are too fat. In fact, being the parent of a micropreemie, we have always been more concerned with packing the pounds on than taking them off. Still, I was beginning to have visions of my children having cardiac bypass surgery by the time they hit 5th grade as a result of too many Happy Meals and too much Chicken Helper.

And I must admit...potty training got me to thinking. We were just enlightened to the idea that perhaps Camille is difficult to potty train as she has pooping woes.

So today, I took a tip and ran with it. Jessica Seinfeld, wife of Jerry Seinfeld, wrote a cookbook called "Deceptively Delicious." The premise is that we can sneak healthy things packed full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc into our children's food without them even having a clue. Brilliant!

I put it to the test. I pureed much of the late afternoon.....sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pineapple, carrots, broccoli. I pureed and pureed and pureed until my little food processor overheated. Literally. I even made homemade raisin bread. And tonight, for snack, I took Camille's favorite peanut butter, added some hummus and pureed sweet potatoes, put it on her raisin bread and wha-la. A healthy snack without a fight!

I think I could like this deception thing.

I'll let you know how it goes.