Eating Habits

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they eat. I sat this evening and pondered this as I watched my children eat dinner.

Isaac has always been thorough to a fault. He is also highly distractable. This means that though he will eat every bite on his plate, it may take him all evening to do so. I have resorted to setting the timer and threatened to withhold dessert if he still hasn't finished when it rings. The only time he's put up any real resistance to eating what I put in front of him was this past summer when I brought zucchini to the table... for the tenth time that week. "No!!" Isaac cried. Eli, sitting right next to him had the exact opposite reaction with, "Yummy!" He tried to eat them right out of the pan.

Eli adheres to the principle of caloric efficiency. He is not my fattest child. (Isaac took the prize for that one, though he's skinny as a rail now) But he's got some seriously adorable love handles that over the summer he really took to showing off. My boys discovered the sheer machismo of shunning a shirt. You know the song, sing it with me now... "I'm too sexy for my shirt..." ok, that was a nice solo, getting back to Eli... Caloric efficiency. For example, we (read I) really go for southwest flavors. You could say I have an addiction to the bean, lime, cilantro combination, and my family gets a good bit of it. Nothing goes better with that yummy trio than sour cream, right? Sour cream for all intents and purposes might as well be ice cream for Eli. He would eat it by the spoon if I let him, and he frequently does anyway. I'm not one to go for reduced fat anything. I confess, I buy whole milk, whole fat yogurt, sour cream, real butter etc. And Eli is totally on board with that.

Caleb is the quiet champion at the dinner table. It's so common for me to look over, amidst the utter racket made by Eli and Isaac, to see Caleb silently and steadily devouring his food. Caleb is not a chatter-box (Isaac) nor is he a show-off (Eli). But he is an awesome eater. He, like Eli, follows in my footsteps as a dairyvore.  Now, as I said, he isn't a chatter-box, but when he likes something he is delightfully vocal about it. When something strikes his fancy, he will often declare it to me several times during the meal. "Mmm-mm, I LOVE tacos!" and "I LOVE this dinner, will you make it tomorrow?"

The Professor's eating habits? I have issues with the Professor's eating habits. I cook the food, and he gets (has) to eat the food. But, being the only other adult in the house, he is also the only other person who has an opinion that actually counts for anything. And, since he can't help sharing those opinions, and since we sometimes disagree... well. Perhaps that's fodder for another post and another day.

May you enjoy many tasty meals, dear Reader,
The Professor's Wife