Growing and Eating

Mr. Man seems to waiver between a whining 4yo punk and an adult trapped in a kid's body. My wife noticed that he's become very reflective lately. She's right. Sunday morning we made banana flapjacks for breakfast and I asked him to choose a cleanup task - either help put away the clean dishes or help wash off the dirty ones to load back into the dishwasher. He complained about having to do any cleanup at all, but the lure of the spray nozzle to wash off the food debris ultimately won him over. He perched on a chair and washed the dishes off, only spraying me mildly in the process. When it was over he said, "I shouldn't have said that earlier...[the complaining], that was really fun."

During bathtime on Thursday we bumped into another growing up topic that I feel unprepared to manage with a straight face. I was sitting on the side of the tub not looking directly at him or perhaps taking all the toys out of the tub to prepare for washing when he says, "I can't reach my penis." I ask why he's trying to reach his penis and look down to find him doubled over. He says, "I'm trying to put my mouth on my penis." Again, I ask why? (I don't know why I asked...). He says, "I want to lick my penis." I promise I never laughed but it was hard, especially given that I immediately flashed back to a friend in college who swore he could self fellatiate. is that a word? Anyway, Mr. Man apparently wasn't that flexible and needs to take up yoga to accomplish such a feat. In the end he licked his finger, pulled back his foreskin, rubbed his little head and giggled. The joy of a little boy.

Meanwhile, we had out traditional Halloween feast, prepared our ancestor altar, carved pumpkins and enjoyed the company of friends. I loved having the day off to cook and spend the day with my wife. We had not enough friends for the amount of food I prepared! All of it was yummy. For starters we had hummus and crock cheese with crackers and breadsticks. The crock cheese was amazing! It's a really yummy vegan version of a cheese spread. We also had cranberry nut bread and corn muffins to go with homemade baked beans, polenta fries and an amazing chuckwagon stew with homemade seitan. For desert there were pumpkin pies which were largely untouched because everyone enjoyed the chocolate peanut butter cups!

When I was a kid, holidays were celebrated at my grandmother's house. She would spend the day in the kitchen making chicken pot pie, right down to the homemade noodles. Our holiday feasts were the backdrop for my Pop Pop's favorite dinnertime phrase, "I'm not talking; I'm eating." I remember the warmth of her kitchen and the savory smells of a homemade meal made with care. Even though it's not food I would eat or choose to make now, the memory of her cooking warms me. When I spread a meal for my family that I spent the day preparing in a warm kitchen with a lot of love, I smile and think of her.