Evangeline has a hollow leg right now.

[conuly]

Or maybe a tapeworm. Or perhaps a hollow tapeworm? Well, she's got legs, anyway, and they're probably growing because she sure eats a lot. And I mean a LOT. It's not unusual right now for her to come home, eat three apples and two oranges, and then go make herself some eggs. And then cry at 6:30 because dinner isn't for another half an hour. Her sister isn't quite this bad, but she also has her little moments.

The other day we didn't have much in the way of food for her. We had raisins, mostly. I hadn't been to the store yet. She was storming around crying because there wasn't any food, and she was NOT happy at my suggestion that she get some raisins and eat those. Finally she scrounged around and found one lone cup of applesauce. Yes, I said, she could eat that. Ana stepped up and declared that SHE was hungry TOO and wanted applesauce.

"Well, we don't have anymore! Why don't you have some raisins?"
"CONNIE! Raisins are not the answer to everything, you know!"

*sigh*

Everybody did eventually get fed, more or less. I cannot wait for this growth spurt or whatever it is to just end already.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

My condolences; welcome to the Pre-Teen Years; just be thankful you've got girls and not boys. Girls are hungry enough, but sheesh, boys turn into Ravening Eater Beasts, and then they hit the growth spurt. My brother would drink a quart of milk like it was a glass of milk; his feet grew two full sizes between June and September one year - one could practically watch his sleeves and pant-legs shortening even as he stood there. The kids I looked after, my Merry Band and my Wolflings, came home from school like a marauding army every day, and devoured anything remotely food-like they could find.

What's needed is complex carbs and healthy fats. Pasta with olive oil, rice with coconut oil, popcorn with real butter - all of which are inexpensive and easy to make. The problem with fruit and veggies is that kids can eat vast quantities of them without ever really getting enough calories to satisfy their fast-growing, fast-metabolizing, highly-active bodies.

Nuts in the shell are way cheaper than nut-meats, and they're an excellent snack for kids because cracking them takes some time and keeps the hands busy. A lot of kids don't like raisins just plain, and they don't satisfy appetite much either; better to put 'em in a recipe, like oatmeal cookies or apple cobbler.