Tips to Make Mornings Easier

Next week, my daughter starts 1st grade. She'll be going to a new school and our whole morning routine is about to shift about an hour earlier than we're used to. So this morning we did a "dry run." We all woke up early and got a move on. I'm happy to report that we were out the door at 7:30! We arrived at her school at 8:00am, a full 15 minutes before school will begin. Phew. 

As a parent, I feel guilty when mornings are hectic. Sometimes they are insane. I know that there are things that I can do to make the process a bit easier but at the same time, sometimes it's all I can do just to keep sane and make sure the basics are taken care of (teeth brushed, kids dressed and fed, lunch packed and ready to go). Other mornings I'm somehow able to fit in an extra cup of coffee and catch up on email. 

Here are some tips that always help make mornings smoother over here – they don't magically transport me to Never Never Land but when you're talking about getting kids out of the house in the morning, every minute counts. 

• ​Cut fruit and veggies in advance. I go to the grocery store usually just once a week. My kids plan their lunches with LaLa Lunchbox so it's never a surprise what fruit or veggie they want during the week. About two or three times per week I bust out the cutting board, chop and pack. My fridge is then packed with containers of ready-to-go cantaloupe, strawberries, mango, oranges, carrots and celery.  In the mornings before school, there's no cutting boards or knives needed. Less morning cleanup makes for less stress. Added bonus: my husband and I eat more produce because it's easily accessible. 
• Package what you can in advance. Whether you use the reusable baggies (we love Lunchskins) , plastic containers (we love Easy Lunchboxes) or plastic baggies, there are some things that can be prepped in advance. By putting  pretzels , crackers, cookies and the like in ready-to-go bags, it's easy to grab and go. 
• If leftovers are for lunch, package it the night before. ​Giving your child last night's lasagne for lunch today? Put aside his portion when you clean up from dinner. 
• Fill reusable water bottles and place in fridge the night before. Place next to your containers of cut produce so that you don't forget to pack it. 

Most importantly, cut yourself some slack. The start of a new school year can be stressful. ​May the force be with you. 

Delighting the Sweet Tooth and the Conscience

​I have a sweet tooth. Always have. Always will. I'd reach for dessert over dinner any day of the week. And I'm usually game to test out a new, interesting looking recipe assuming I have the ingredients and the time. 

So I was thrilled to come across this recipe for Peanut Butter and Banana Chocolate Chunk Cookies ​in Babble's Family Kitchen. Not only was it super easy  (only 10 ingredients and I omitted one of them) but it was finished and ready in no time at all.

I used soy nut butter instead of peanut butter and left out the shredded coconut. I'm happy that these cookies don't call for flour, sugar, butter or eggs. Not that there's anything wrong with those... but it made sampling the batter a guilt-free experience. And anything that's made with mashed bananas is good in my opinion. Best part: RAVE reviews from the kids. Yay! I used Ghiradelli large chocolate chips in this recipe and when my 2 year old saw them fresh from the oven he exclaimed, "Mommy! Wow. I like that chocolate because I like it!" 

​So thanks, once again to Babble for supplying our house with tasty ideas that are easy to execute. 

The Green Thumb and The Brown Thumb Collaborate

My daughter has a green thumb. She gets it from my husband. Lucky them! I'm cursed with a brown thumb. ​

This past weekend, the two of them picked up some new herbs to grow on the windowsill, among them were mint and Thai basil. YUM. Frankly I'm happy that I can cook with the herbs but I'm not responsible for keeping them alive. ​

I was browsing through Dinner: A Love Story and came across this post and felt inspired. (Thank you, Jenny!)  ​So, my little Green Thumb and I set to work. We picked, washed and chopped fresh mint and basil while wheat berries were cooking on the stove. We also chopped a half of a shallot (actually that was my job... she opted out of that one, proclaiming it too smelly.) Once the wheat berries were finished we combined everything with the juice of one lime, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some sea salt. Easy, quick, healthy. Delish. 

Lunchbox Cutlery and Crust Cutting

It's funny how developmental advances happen sometimes accidentally.
My daughter has been going to camp this summer at a fantastic place called The Barking Cat. Every day the kids go on adventures that as a parent with access to such a fabulous city, I wish I had the stamina for. The roster of places included The Met, The Museum of Natural History, The Marionette Theater, The Brooklyn Museum, The Guggenheim, Prospect Park playgrounds. The list goes on and on. Sure, we visit museums. But not four in a week. Every week.
Post- adventure the kids spend all afternoon creating art. I have been completely delighted with The Barking Cat and so impressed with how well Karen and Maria have run the program. Most importantly though, my daughter raves about it each day at pickup.
Campers are supposed to bring a packed lunch each day - fine for us because we use LaLa Lunchbox. But the other day I had one of those super tired accidental parental lapses in judgement. I prepared her sandwich in the morning and packed the other lunch foods. My daughter is not a crust fan so I trimmed the crust and, as usual, gave it to my son with his breakfast. Or so I thought.
At pickup, my daughter exclaimed "Mom! I loved taking off my own crust! Thank you for packing that knife!"

Oh.my.god. Did anyone hear that? Jesus. I packed a knife in my six year old's lunchbox? In an instant I tried (unsuccessfully) to think back to the morning... Was I using a butter knife? Or some kind of totally inappropriate Ginsu-type?
Clearly it all worked out fine, but still. I quickly opened the lunchbox and it was, in fact, a butter knife. And a dull one at that. Phew.

The good news is that now my daughter wants to cut off her own crust always. And despite the fact that I won't be sending her off with knives in her lunchbox any time soon, it's an exciting new level of self sufficiency (under the right circumstances of course!)

At This Point, I Really Should Know Better

It's quite simple, really. 

• step 1: when dining out, tell the waiter/waitress about allergies. 

• step 2: carry all medications.

• step 3: make sure said medications are current (not expired). 

I met some friends last night at one of my favorite restaurants. There are a few things on the menu that I've never ordered because my go-to standbys are so utterly delicious, it's always hard to veer from them. Last night I changed my mind. Had a hankering for something from the sea. I'm allergic to fish, but not shellfish so I ordered the octopus salad with dandelion greens. One of my dinner companions ordered the same thing - but had her dressing altered to olive oil and lemon juice. It would have been wise for me to have followed suit. 

As I learned five hours after the fact, my dressing was made with anchovy fillet. I didn't feel better hours after taking benadryl and finally Googled the recipe. I only have myself to blame. Step 1: ALWAYS tell the waiter/waitress about any allergies.  

During an allergy attack, my heart thumps. My fingers and hands shake from the medicine. I feel a strange sort of speedy buzz pulsing through my body from the inhaler, which competes with the utter exhaustion that comes from the benadryl. The reaction to my allergy medicine is sometimes just as intense as the reaction to the allergen itself. Anchovy, as it turns out, tasted quite yummy in that dressing. But I couldn't finish my dish at dinner. I felt a few hives around my mouth and one on my lip. And a golf ball sensation in my esophagus. I know that golf ball sensation. I've known it all too well for a long time. But for some reason last night, I chalked it up to indigestion and to a cross contamination allergy. My allergies to fish (and nuts) are so sensitive that I can get hives if my food is touched by the same utensil that is used to for nuts and fish. Anchovy isn't one of the more powerful or oily fish so the reaction isn't as severe. I would have known after one bite if there was salmon in that dish. And I would have known what to do. You'd think after so many years of handling my allergies I'd be smarter about things and know how to distinguish a reaction to something I've eaten from something that's touched something I've eaten but I never quite feel like I'm in my right mind when an attack comes on. I have trouble thinking clearly. 

I left my house last night without my allergy medication. Don't ask me why. I'd certainly get a lecture from my parents for that one - even now as a grown adult with children of my own. And from my husband who, until midnight was on a cross country flight back home after traveling this week for work. When I have an allergic reaction, I've got the internal struggle of feeling completely afraid and helpless and at the same time feeling ultimate pressure to take proper care of myself, by myself. Maybe that's why it's so hard to think clearly. Step 2: ALWAYS carry ALL medications. 

I've been to this restaurant a million times, I figured. I wanted to take a small purse. I didn't have room for allergy medicine. I realize how stupid that must sound. Believe me, I'm berating myself worse than any family member of mine could do. By the time I got home, I raced to take two benadryl. Benadryl has been my savior on countless occasions. I'm familiar with the hazy exhaustion it brings. But it's been so long since I had any kind of allergic incident. I'm usually so careful. I'm embarrassed to admit that the benadryl all over my house carried an expiration date of February 2011. Step 3: ALWAYS keep allergy medicines current. 

My old boss used to say that expiration dates were things to be ignored. "Marketing tools to buy more product," he'd say. I stayed up until the benadryl's sleepy effects took over, even though I didn't feel the relief I usually feel with a contact allergy. Unusual. It had been an uneasy, uncomfortable 2 hours. I finally googled the recipe for the dish and discovered the underlying reason: the anchovy. No wonder. It wasn't a contact allergy at all. It was a real allergy. I.ate.fish. What an idiot. After some internal debate (and back and forth texts with my husband who landed late and had trouble finding a taxi thanks to last night's storm) I took another benadryl and a dose of the inhaler. The golf ball feeling went away after 10 minutes. My body felt relief. 

I had a conversation with my mom just the other day about the terror a parent feels when his or her child has anaphylaxis. According to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, each of my children has a 7 in 10 chance of having some sort of allergy because my husband and I both have them. "Challenging as it is, you learn to deal with the terror when they are little. You find ways to control situations as much as possible so that you avoid allergens. You get the help you need for them when that fails," she said. "But then there's a whole new level of terror that you feel as a parent when they grow up and you hope that you've done what needs to be done so that they take care of themselves." 

Shame on me for not telling the waitress about my allergies. And for not carrying my benadryl with me always. And for not having current supply in stock. I'm okay now. It's just going to be a long, tired day. 

People: if you have allergies, please don't be a jackass. I say that in the nicest way possible. Take care of yourself, in the way that you know you have to do for your own best interest.