Diego this, Diego that - and Special Oatmeal

Diego had a quick fever-and-vomiting spell yesterday. It lasted from early afternoon through the evening, starting with complaints that his head hurt - a first. I gave him a warm bath with lavendar oil; he drank chamomille tea and had a slight temp at 100.2 and pecked at his lunch. He took an early nap and his temp was 101.7 upon wakening; then laid around listlessly and eventually threw up in early evening; and with that, his fever began to subside.

I found great comfort in my children's home health reference book: Naturally Healthy Babies and Children by Aviva-Jill Romm. Instead of feeling frazzled and mystified by his sickness, I was able approach it calmly and recognize that his fever was actually a good thing - creating an environment inhospitable to bacteria and stimulating his immune system. Perhaps some of my calmness was also afforded by experience, but I give major credit to Romm's book. It is filled with practical advice and insight, home remedies, encouragement, and best of all, it is specifically geared for children. If you have children, I highly recommend this book.

Another issue we've had recently is Diego refusing to eat eggs in any form. He says they want to make him gag. Funny, because he used to steal eggs right off my plate and beg for more. But such is the way with younglings: I'm not going to force him eat anything, though we do a form of the "No thank you bite", which I think is a terrific idea. I've read that it can take a child 12 times tasting a new food before they accept it. I find it too easy to just give up, but I've resolved to continue with asking him to take one bite of something, then being able to choose whether he will eat it or not. This kid is going to like squash (some day).

Back to eggs: I ran into the most fantastic idea this weekend. Oatmeal with eggs mixed in! I found it in Real Food for Healthy Kids, a book I have on loan from the library. It is a pretty good book, they opt for organic and even mention locally produced foods, but I cannot abide for their recommendations to keep things low-fat. Ay! Children need good fats for growing, and I cannot understand why we are still not over the outdated mantra of low-fat everything. I don't buy it. Whole milk, butter, full-fat yogurt and sour cream, olive oil, coconut oil, and yes, lard. Everyone needs fat; but especially growing kids.

Nevertheless, RFfHK was a good brain-stormer, providing lots of ideas to expand mealtime endevours. It is way too easy to get stuck in a rut. They describe the oatmeal with eggs as "custardy" and it most certainly was. I thought it even smelled a little like waffles. Eggy-oatmeal is an extra bonus for me, because I have always needed breakfast protein. The days of cold cereal always felt me feeling a little sickly and over-hungry by mid-morning. I still can't eat 'just' oatmeal for breakfast, unless I load it down with walnuts or almonds. I need the staying power of protein.

So...I soaked steel-cut oats overnight (soaking grains makes them more digestable, just like beans, and they cook up SO much faster), and warmed the eggs in the shell in tap water prior to stirring them into the fully-cooked oatmeal. Breakfast was served with bit of butter, apple sauce, and plain yogurt mixed in. I called it Special Oatmeal - Diego has a special fondness for oatmeal, so Special Oatmeal was very exciting indeed. He wolfed it down and didn't know the difference. I did tell him that Special Oatmeal has eggs mixed in - but he didn't buy it and asked for more this morning.

I am so pleased to have found a tasty way to get more good-fat and protein-packed eggs into his diet. The more I parent, the more I learn.