Milk Police

3-12-2011

Every great once in a while during my day as a Mother something will remind me of my days as a college student. This happened again about a week ago, and it was Jared who triggered it. Lately he has gotten into the habit of finishing a meal and then carrying over the unfinished portion of his drink to the fridge to "save for later." Sometimes it's water, sometimes it's milk, and other times he doesn't do it at all. Cute, I thought. And so conscientious.

But it soon became not so cute the other day after lunch when he asked for "LOTS of milk, please." His food was already eaten, and I didn't think he could drink any more. Nevertheless, I naively I poured him "lots of milk" only to later discover the entire cup of milk sitting in the fridge. He hadn't consumed a drop of it. Light bulb moment! We have a rule at our house that the kids can have milk at breakfast and lunch, but dinner is water only. (I think it was born partially as an attempt to curb our household's milk consumption rate--currently two gallons a week, and counting--and partially because we don't want our kids to grow up unwilling to drink plain water.) But Jared and Allison LOVE milk and wish they could drink it at every meal. Can you see where this is going? Yes, Jared was smuggling milk. At the age of three. Right under my nose. He was stalking up at lunchtime and saving it for dinnertime when milk would not otherwise be available. Enterprising? Perhaps. Acceptable? Certainly not!

As I stared in disbelief at that green plastic cup full of saved milk, another image came to mind. A memory from long ago and far away... a memory from my days at BYU. The summer before I started college, I got a part-time job working as cashier at the Cannon Center. In addition to greeting hungry students, swiping hundreds of meal cards, and ensuring that everyone we served was following the dress code, I was also the food police. Since the Cannon Center served an all-you-can-eat buffet, no patron was allowed to take food outside the dining area. Looking back, I can see why they were tempted. There was a main menu line with two choices of entrées and sides; a full-size salad & fruit bar; a pasta bar; a waffle bar; a sandwich bar; a dessert bar; and a soft-serve ice cream bar. Thus the infamous "freshman fifteen" that Cannon Center eaters are purported to gain during their first year at the dorms (and this was in the days of the "old Cannon Center." I call the new one the Eateria Extravaganza, and if you've ever been inside, you'll probably agree that fifteen has increased to twenty--at least).

And so I stood at my secretarial podium and smiled and greeted and swiped and secretly watched for bagels behind books and bananas stuffed in water bottle backpack pockets. "Please keep the food in the dining area," I would recite as a new freshman stepped over the threshold with an apple in his hand and unwittingly committed his first crime on BYU campus. Even half-eaten items weren't allowed outside the doors. My manager was a friendly woman the age of my grandmother and with eyesight five times as good. She could spot a brownie on the run from yards away, and she would swoop down and, before the student knew what was happening, she would have her arm around him, guiding him back inside and explaining the rules to him in a way that made him feel like he had just been caught with his hand in HER cookie jar. I didn't have the grandmotherly advantage, but I still did my best to keep the Cannon Center from failing financially from the accumulation of a summer's worth of smuggled food.

Clearly, Jared has a ways to go before he will be ready to dine appropriately at a BYU cafeteria. In the meantime, I will work on teaching him an essential Washburn dining rule, inspired by my experience as food police at the Cannon Center: Chew it or Lose it!

Welcome, Baby Thomas!

Thomas Hal Washburn made his appearance in the world on Thursday, January 6, at 11:35pm. It was an exciting trip to the hospital--we made it there just half an hour before he was born! Thomas was 8 lbs 1 oz and 19 inches long, and is happy and healthy.

The kids and Thomas are getting along very well (with only a *few* minor incidents). They like holding him, patting him, and talking to him when he is awake. It's hard to believe that it's been two years since we welcomed Allison into our family... and three and a half years since Jared was born!

Allison is a great big sister. She is gentle and affectionate toward Thomas. She loves trailing behind Mommy as she feeds and takes care of Thomas. The baby's arrival has brought forth an inner interest in baby dolls, and Allison is always carting two of them around in her toy stroller, "burping" them on her shoulder, and rocking them to sleep. To our chagrin, she also likes to tease us by finding Thomas's pacifier and popping it in her own mouth. It's then we remember that Allison is practically still a baby herself. But she's learning some good big sister skills... under our close supervision.

Ever since we told Jared we were having another baby, he was convinced that it would be a "baby brother." He talked about his brother all the time, and when we told him that it might very well be a girl, he would declare that no, that was impossible. "It's just a boy." Well, lucky for Jared, it was! And now Jared talks about all the things he and Thomas will do when Thomas gets big enough--like driving toy cars together. Jared also enjoys holding and watching Thomas, and he always lets me know when Thomas is starting to cry and needs Mommy.

I love these three kids!

Christmas 2010 Update

Washburn Family, 2010

"The Eyebrow"

It's been a couple months since I've posted, and what better way to get back to blogging than to tell the tale of our disintegrating bath tub.

Jared has always loved to take baths, and we nearly always give him (and Allison) one every night. We figure it's a good wind-down routine, and it gets all the day's food, dirt, etc. out of their hair.

Unfortunately, our bath tub is wearing thin on the bottom--something we discovered one day when Jared was two years old and taking his usual evening bath. He pointed to a quarter-inch rust spot forming on the bottom and exclaimed, "It's an eyebrow!" Apparently he grew quite attached to this tub blemish, because the next week after maintenance had come and sealed off the rust spot, Jared said sadly, "Oh, I miss the eyebrow."

Lucky for Jared, the eyebrow reappeared just weeks later, when the sealant came off. It has maintained a proud presence at bathtime ever since, and was slightly augmented this week when we bleached the tub mat overnight.

Someday--probably when we move--our tub will get replaced. But until then, we will continue to enjoy the "eyebrow"as it gazes up at us every night through sudsy water.

Twenty-one Months and Counting...

The other day Allison was sitting in her high chair with some play dough. She had pulled off little pieces and was looking at them, then suddenly she started to count: "One, two, three." Not bad, I thought, for a 21-month-old.

Later that evening, as Adam and I were getting the kids ready for bed, Allison started counting quietly to herself: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven." We snapped to attention, amazed that she had counted so far on her own.

"Eight," Adam coaxed.

"Nine, ten!" Allison finished. They went all the way up to twenty, with Allison getting the numbers twelve, fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, and nineteen. I'm not sure if that's an average counting ability for her age, but it sure impressed me and Adam. Maybe she'll be counting to thirty by her second birthday!

Happy Halloween!

I've always enjoyed Halloween: the costumes, the fall leaves, the Halloween-themed treats. This year we decided to be the "Washburn Family Garden." Adam was the gardener, Allison was a flower, Jared was a bug, and I had "a pea in the pod." Grandma Washburn made the kids' darling costumes, of course. Adam and I scrounged for ours... but the overall effect was fun.

This year Halloween seemed to last a full week: on Tuesday we carved our pumpkins. On Wednesday Jared's preschool did their costume parade and "trick-or-treating" to the high school classrooms. On Friday our ward had its Halloween party, complete with chili cookoff and chemistry magic show in the fire pit out back. Saturday we'll do a special trick-or-treating night, arranged with 19 of our other Mormon neighbors living at Winfield Village. And Sunday we'll have friends over for the traditional Dickson flaming-eyes ghost cake (I made one last week as well, for Adam to bring to his chemistry lab group meeting).

Isn't that owl cool? Adam carved it, upon Jared's request.

Now that Halloween is over, can anyone tell me what to do with all this candy the kids have collected? Add it to the stash left over from last year, I guess!

Jared's First Day of Preschool

All summer long, the promise of preschool has been motivating Jared to get potty trained. Back then, preschool seemed so far away. But dream finally became reality, and this Tuesday Jared went to his first day of preschool.

Jared's first words when he woke up on Tuesday morning were, "Is it preschool day?" He eagerly ate breakfast, found his backpack, got dressed, and waited for 9:00 when we could leave. We found a parking spot behind a familiar van and, both sporting backpacks, Jared and his friend Spencer walked across the street together for their first day of school.

The entryway was full of children and parents--many of them returning for another semester and some of them new to preschool. Jared was ready to forge straight through the crowd and into the main school room (we had come together once last spring to observe, and I think he must have remembed the cool toys). I pulled him back to greet his teacher, and she asked him to find his name by his cubby, which he quickly did. We tucked his backpack away and pinned on his name badge. At my request, he gave me a big hug and a kiss, and then ran off to join the other kids.

The program Jared is attending is one run by a local high school's child development classes. The head teacher is great, and the kids get a lot of attention from the high school students. I'd estimate that 2/3 of the children are LDS--and nearly all of those are from our ward. So Jared already has lots of friends. But we're still encouraging him to make new ones.

I'm a little sad that Jared is growing up so fast. But then again, he is so excited about preschool that it's hard not to be excited with him. I'm glad that he adapts well to new environments and enjoys new places and new people. And I'm glad that we found a good school for him to attend, with a great teacher and classmates who I know will be a good influence on him.