There are 2 battles going on in this house and they are both over food.
When we first arrived the girls were excited about dinner- fresh chapatis, non spicy veggies and dal they tolerated because we let the eat it with haplas. We had a blast spinning things around on the lazy Susan or Susie as we call her. Now there is a fight every dinner time. Actually Flip doesn't even wait til dinner. On the way up in the elevator she asks if we are having ------ for dinner because she knows we are and when I confirm it she goes nuts. And for the record most Indians do not let their kids or any other kids cry for that matter. They give biscuits, even spoonfuls of sugar to make them happy. Flip's screaming and crying reverberates off the elevator walls and Indians all over the complex know that the American mother is not meeting her child's immediate desires. At the table it continues, me trying to force a crying Star to eat. Me feeding Flip her whole meal in front of a video. Thankfully for me, but unfortunately for them, Heather and Aditya were here to witness the climax. I threatened to send them off to bed without supper. I did use my low and serious tone instead of my loud and out of control voice, because if any other Indians heard me threatened to not feed my kids properly my PIO status would be promptly revoked. I think that was a question on my application. Do you feed your kids the required 3 servings of rice at every meal? Later, I laid down the law. No more snacks. No more sweets. No more ice cream. No more haplas. Only oota (growing food) that Srnivas makes. Really it is ridiculous for me to prepare separate snacks. The man prepares lunch and dinner at 9 am and it sits on the counter waiting for us. Yes, I have been through the Serve Safe training at Food Gathers and know leaving food out allows the pathogens to grow but for some reason that doesn't count here. Perhaps there are too many pathogens fighting it out for the right to make us ill and they all kill eat other off.
But the good news is my girls are eating food again. Sure Flip still screaming her way up all 3 floors but she eats once she is at the table. And Star is no longer claiming that it hurts her stomach to even bring the food to her lips.
This brings us to the second battle. Me verses the junk food- cause it is here, in the house, calling my name. Now that the girls aren't allowed to eat the junk it sits in the fridge. Well until I eat it. Yes, Ganesh, your lovely Cadbury Gems that you brought the girls are gone. I ate them while they were sleeping. The girls are thoroughly enjoying the purple containers though. They make great water bombs in the bath. And just for the record, no Cadbury Gems aren't as good as M&Ms. And since I am confessing, I don't like Smarties. I like the good old hydrogenated oil in a candy coating shell. Guess I am not so international after all, just good old American. All this junk food is taking its toll. I am getting plumper and this is not good. I have a wedding to attend in May. I have already tried on and bought the bridesmaids dress. The other night I attempted to wear a sundress to a party. I used to dress very conservatively while in India- salwars all the time. No shorts. No tank tops. Then a vouple of years ago one night out a same-age cousin looked at me and asked, "Is that what you are wearing?" I went out the next day and bought a sundress. The same sundress I was attempting to wear Friday night. I walked through the house and considered the fact that I would be kid- tending in the dress and decided it wouldn't work. After I changed Star asked me, "Momma, did you change because that dress was tight on your belly?" This is how I know I have got to either let my kids eat junk again, throw it all out or perhaps just get a little will power.
When we first arrived the girls were excited about dinner- fresh chapatis, non spicy veggies and dal they tolerated because we let the eat it with haplas. We had a blast spinning things around on the lazy Susan or Susie as we call her. Now there is a fight every dinner time. Actually Flip doesn't even wait til dinner. On the way up in the elevator she asks if we are having ------ for dinner because she knows we are and when I confirm it she goes nuts. And for the record most Indians do not let their kids or any other kids cry for that matter. They give biscuits, even spoonfuls of sugar to make them happy. Flip's screaming and crying reverberates off the elevator walls and Indians all over the complex know that the American mother is not meeting her child's immediate desires. At the table it continues, me trying to force a crying Star to eat. Me feeding Flip her whole meal in front of a video. Thankfully for me, but unfortunately for them, Heather and Aditya were here to witness the climax. I threatened to send them off to bed without supper. I did use my low and serious tone instead of my loud and out of control voice, because if any other Indians heard me threatened to not feed my kids properly my PIO status would be promptly revoked. I think that was a question on my application. Do you feed your kids the required 3 servings of rice at every meal? Later, I laid down the law. No more snacks. No more sweets. No more ice cream. No more haplas. Only oota (growing food) that Srnivas makes. Really it is ridiculous for me to prepare separate snacks. The man prepares lunch and dinner at 9 am and it sits on the counter waiting for us. Yes, I have been through the Serve Safe training at Food Gathers and know leaving food out allows the pathogens to grow but for some reason that doesn't count here. Perhaps there are too many pathogens fighting it out for the right to make us ill and they all kill eat other off.
But the good news is my girls are eating food again. Sure Flip still screaming her way up all 3 floors but she eats once she is at the table. And Star is no longer claiming that it hurts her stomach to even bring the food to her lips.
This brings us to the second battle. Me verses the junk food- cause it is here, in the house, calling my name. Now that the girls aren't allowed to eat the junk it sits in the fridge. Well until I eat it. Yes, Ganesh, your lovely Cadbury Gems that you brought the girls are gone. I ate them while they were sleeping. The girls are thoroughly enjoying the purple containers though. They make great water bombs in the bath. And just for the record, no Cadbury Gems aren't as good as M&Ms. And since I am confessing, I don't like Smarties. I like the good old hydrogenated oil in a candy coating shell. Guess I am not so international after all, just good old American. All this junk food is taking its toll. I am getting plumper and this is not good. I have a wedding to attend in May. I have already tried on and bought the bridesmaids dress. The other night I attempted to wear a sundress to a party. I used to dress very conservatively while in India- salwars all the time. No shorts. No tank tops. Then a vouple of years ago one night out a same-age cousin looked at me and asked, "Is that what you are wearing?" I went out the next day and bought a sundress. The same sundress I was attempting to wear Friday night. I walked through the house and considered the fact that I would be kid- tending in the dress and decided it wouldn't work. After I changed Star asked me, "Momma, did you change because that dress was tight on your belly?" This is how I know I have got to either let my kids eat junk again, throw it all out or perhaps just get a little will power.
No comments:
Post a Comment