Every Day with Eli: October 3

I read something in Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (seriously, you need to read this book) the other day that stuck with me. She wrote:

Cooking is 80 percent confidence, a skill best acquired starting from when the apron strings wrap around you twice.

I hope to give that confidence to my children, to equip them with a familiarity with food and with the work and love and thought that goes into good food. Right now, they refuse to eat most of what I make. I like to tell myself that it's not because the food is bad (I fancy myself an acceptable cook), but rather because they are two and four and therefore ridiculous by nature. But just because they won't eat it doesn't mean they can't help prepare it.

So today, they helped.

It was a new recipe, so I didn't have much to lose. Those are two pork tenderloins spread out on a cutting board.

Caleb had a bowl of salt, and Daisy had a bowl of pepper, and they seasoned the meat for me. As we worked, Daisy said, "Pork! I like pork! Can I eat it?" I explained that we needed to cook it first, because raw pork has germs, but she was still very interested in eating it. While the meat was searing in a pan (and after we all washed our hands!), they helped me peel carrots.

And still, they ate no more than a perfunctory "thank you" bite.

Meanwhile, Lily had a conversation with her little chickie.

She's suddenly very engaged in her toys. While I worked in the kitchen tonight, she played happily on her play mat, cooing and babbling, batting at her toys, for at least 15 minutes. For a two-month-old, that's huge!

Also huge?

Lily's first piece of art came in the mail today.