So I have to rant about The Monster's school for a second. I should preface this by saying that she goes to a fabulous day care facility in Fancy Schmancy Expensive Suburb of Big Southern City. We have no doubt that they take great care of her. She is a happy baby when we drop her off and when we pick her up. The place is clean, and we are comfortable with it. The few concerns we have had have been addressed quickly and completely. We love the place. But... it irritates me that I did not get a straight answer about one thing.
So here's a quick tangent, and then I'll get back to the point of this rant. It is relevant, I promise. The Monster is almost 7 months old and is eating rice cereal and butternut squash. We elected to wait until she was 6 months old to start her on any solids, because that is what our pediatrician recommended, and Big D concurred.* When she was just shy of 6 months, her teacher asked me if she was on solids. I replied that we were taking things conservatively in the solids department, but that she would be starting them soon. And we did. But since then, I've been asked several times about her eating solids. I wonder why they are so concerned about what I'm feeding The Monster. Do they have a vested interest in it? Maybe some stock in Gerber that they didn't disclose? Maybe they find it fun to feed the babies solids (because it is!!!)?
We've done cereal for a little while now and did squash this last weekend. This is a learning process for all of us, and just like everything else, it takes a while to get into a routine. Big D and I haven't yet figured out how to give her a serving of vegetables and a serving of cereal a day. We don't want to do them both at once, because that's just too much for her cute little tummy right now. Especially when she's tired in the evenings. So Margaret suggested that I do one in the morning and one in the evening. That could work. One of us would have to wake up about 15 minutes earlier, but it's certainly possible. So we were about to start doing that, but then this morning, I had a talk with Reagan's teacher...
She asked me when I was going to start sending food up for The Monster to eat at school. (What's with obsession over her intake of solids???) I've been hesitant to send food up, because I really like the idea of making my own baby food. Silly, probably, considering that Gerber is totally fine... there are no additives on their stage 1 foods, and the containers are made of safe plastics. But, like those of you who know me know, I can get a tad bit stubborn. I get an idea in my head, and I run with it. No matter how difficult something is to accomplish, I will eventually find a way. And if I can't, I beat myself up mentally for weeks for being a failure, even if in reality I'm not. For whatever reason, I have it in my head that I HAVE to give The Monster homemade baby food. I don't know where I got this idea from, but it is now on my list of personal goals, right next to memorizing the dialogue in every episode of Friends. Am I putting undue pressure on myself? Most likely... but that's me. I'm a perfectionist. I can't help it.
So I asked the school a couple of months back their procedures on baby food. I was told by the director that I could not bring homemade baby food. She said it had to be store bought and in the original container. Really? That's weird, but if that's the rule, that's fine. But I started noticing that the countertop where the parents drop off their baby's food for the day has plenty of food in tupperware and other non-original containers. I thought maybe I was missing something. Or maybe it was rice cereal waiting to be mixed. I let it go. (Surprising, because I never let anything go...)
Hold on, the point of my rant is approaching.
So this morning while I was talking with the teacher, I said that I would start sending up food soon, but that I was delaying it as long as possible so I could give her as much homemade food as possible. She suggested that I just send some up to school. "But I was told that I couldn't bring homemade baby food." "Who told you that???" She then started naming kids in class whose moms make their own food and then the kids in class whose moms make little mixed medleys of store bought food. (The school can't do any mixing, other than breastmilk with rice cereal flakes. Everything has to be prepared by the parents.) They send the food up in non-store bought containers, and the teachers warm them up when it's time to feed the kiddo. So apparently I can bring up homemade baby food. And the facility is inspected quarterly by Fancy Schmancy Expensive Suburb of Big Southern City, so if such a thing weren't allowed, the school would have gotten in trouble for it. Right?
So here's my question: Why did the director tell me I couldn't bring homemade food? If she didn't know the answer, why didn't she just say that? Why did she tell me something incorrect? Was she trying to keep from looking stupid? Why can't I get a straight answer? Why don't people just admit that they don't know the answer? GRR!
So, luckily, even though I'm irritated that I've been under the impression for the last couple of months that I had to send store-bought food to The Monster's school, I now find out that I can send homemade stuff, which makes me very happy. So tomorrow, I'll send up some squash - that I made. She obviously loves it...
So now I feel as if I've been depriving The Monster of food at school. She's the only one in her class of 8 that isn't eating solids at school. Her teacher said that she sees the other kids' food and shows an interest. Poor thing. I feel awful. But I'm going to try my best to forget about it, send up some food tomorrow, and next time I feel like I've been given a wrong answer, I'm going to speak up. Am I going to ask the director about her wrong answer? No - I've learned over the last few years to pick my battles. And this particular one is not worth picking. I'm getting what I want, so I'll let it go. Also, when I posed the question to her, she had been recently promoted when her predecessor left after like 10 years of working at the school. She probably just needed some time to get used to things. So I'll let this one go.
* I shall now reveal that Big D is a doctor... a resident to be more exact, hence the lack of money to make all the wood colors in our living room match. :-)
2 comments:
Judging by the look on the Monster's face, you are a much better cook than me!
She just doesn't know any better yet. :-)
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