parenting | Lessons from my daughter

Yes, Emily said that over the weekend.

She was upset about something and informed us that she was planning on moving out.

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I moved away for school when I was 17 so technically, she could be moving out next year.

Technically, in another world, she would start Grade 12 next year and within a year could be moving out.

…

I’m sad she won’t…

And

I’m delightfully happy she won’t…

I’m conflicted!

…

Emily hinted before at the possibility of moving out but it was never like it was this weekend.

She made her announcement while sitting at the table waiting for food to be deposited on the table in front of her.

Life is hard in our house!

I get that the other kids at school are talking about career choice and going away to University. Hearing those things make her think.

I can’t squish her dreams and aspirations for a carreer or for one day moving to an apartment.

So, how did I handle the moving out comment?

I said:

Ok baby, if you want to be ready to move out next year we need to get you ready.

We need to look at how much money you will need to pay rent, electricity, internet, tv and your phone bill.

She looked confused.

We will need to make a budget so you know how much money you need. You will need to earn your money because I already pay for everything here, I can’t pay there too.

She just kept looking at me.

Next, we need to figure out how you will get to school. I won’t be there to drive you around so you will probably need to learn how to use the public bus system. Maybe we can start looking into that soon.

Complete silence.

And we should start looking at things to do around the house… Cooking, cleaning, laundry… Finding your way to the laundromat.

“Well, I’m taking a dog!”

Which one?

Maple!

Ok, well keep in mind, she has a nervous bladder and likes to pee on furniture so you will need to keep that under control.

She didn’t look as excited about moving out anymore.

What about night time? Will you be ok on your own? You should start staying home on your own for small amount of time so you can slowly get used to being on your own.

…

“Mom? I think I’ll stay here a little longer!”

Yes, life is not so hard here after all…

I love food!

“We” love food!

When I left home at 17, my step father was worried I would starve.

I could use the microwave and the toaster. 🙂

I studied hotel management and had cooking courses. I learned how to cook and appreciate food.

I have 1 rule, try it once.

When I met Jonathan in 1996, he was a chef!

Yeah me!!!

He hasn’t been a chef in many years and only shows off his mad cooking skills when we have company.

😦 I miss his cooking but let’s be honest! I have some skills too.

When Emily was little, she couldnt drink, didn’t know how to swallow and not one doctor believed she would ever learn to eat solid food.

We made all her purées except for meat. Store bought puréed meat was gross but once mixed in our veggies, you couldn’t tell it was there.

I (we) tasted everything we gave Emily.

Everything was puréed but delicious!

We gave her flavors and textures. We had bite size pieces of food on the table for her to play with and hopefully try to eat.

We never forced her to eat anything.

But really slowly, she started to grab pieces of food and tasted it.

She chocked on everything. Milk, water, juice, purées, non-purées, everything.

Everything!

She got to the point when she could make herself regurgitate on demand if she was chocking.

We never lost hope that one day she would eat.

We won! She eats! She will try anything and has a really short list of things she won’t eat.

Once a week, I will do my best to tell you about our food. Our vegetable basket we get from a local farm, what we ate, what Emily tried, what she liked and so on.

On boring weeks, I will go back to old pictures and tell you what Emily has tried over the years.

Last week, I wasn’t feeling well. When I am not well, I make Frittata with whatever I can find in our fridge.

This always makes me feel better and Emily loved the added avocado.

Monday was cold and wet. We got a lot of rain so I made the 10-spice vegetable soup with cashew cream from the “Oh she glows” cookbook. I had to switch some ingredients based on what I had available but it is still delicious.

Emily doesn’t care for chickpeas but my soup received an “amazing” qualification. Emily ate all the chickpeas.

Monday night, I also made a watermelon, feta cheese and peppermint salad.

Emily had plain watermelon. Fresh herbs are sometimes too much for her and feta is not something she likes.

Tonight, we picked-up our first vegetable basket for the season. I am so excited, I love fresh produce but can’t stand our over-crowded Saturday market. So, this weekly surprise basket is awesome.

The strawberries are so good.

Last but not least, tonight, I made a Dorito Taco Bake!

I saw the recipe on Facebook and decided to give it a try.

I again, made some changes. Mostly, I added vegetables in the cooked meat (onions, celeri and mushrooms), fresh avocado on top and I put way more cheese than the recipe called for!