The Montifiore Manse

As baby's birth gets closer - is it really just three months?! - it is starting to hit me a little more how much parenting involves. Most obvious is the material aspect of things. As mentioned before, we've been delighted to get various things second-hand for baby over the last few months (crib, stroller, high chair, bouncer seat, diaper bag, clothes, and toys). We are now starting to think about what else we might need. The current list of stuff to get includes a few big items: a changing table, a carseat, a baby carrier, a baby bath and baby swing (maybe?) and a rocking chair. Then, I need to go through the baby clothes that were given and figure out what other clothes will be necessary. Finally, there are the little things like diapers, wipes, baby powder, diaper rash cream, baby shampoo and soap, washcloths, spit blankets, bibs, bottles, pacifiers, etc.

I almost wish there were some need list that you could go through and check off, but at the same time the variety of opinions on what is and isn't healthy, necessary, natural or whatever are bewildering. One tends to fall back on what one remembers from childhood... after all, I grew up all right, didn't I? But I welcome hearing about what others have found to be best in their experience.

The other bewildering thing is that I am very unfamiliar with the baby market in Australia. Online things aren't quite as easily accessible, depending on the location and shipping policy (and price!) of the company. And there aren't any big baby stores that I've seen in Launceston, just one small shop that's very expensive (Baby George) and several small second-hand shops. I guess I'll have to check out the options in the local cheap-o department store (K-mart) and the next-step-up ones (Target and Harris Scarfe) and maybe the pricey one too (Meyer). And then there will probably be a few products in the grocery stores like Woolworths and Coles. Hmmm....

Aside from baby things, there's the parenting itself to prepare for. Terry and I are borrowing a book from friends called Growing Kid's God's Way by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo. I've only just begun to read it as of now. We're aware that there's a bit of controversy surrounding the authors and their parenting curriculum, but we're going to check it out anyway on our friends' recommendation. As with any Christian book, we'll seek to approach it with Biblical discernment and common sense. And of course, any parenting method needs to be applied with close attention to the context of the author's advice, not strictly literally or legalistically, and with prayerful sensitivity to the heart issues of the parent and the child within the given situation. If anyone has favorite parenting books or articles to recommend, feel free to share. Thankfully, we are ultimately equipped with all the principles and insights we need by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word (II Tim. 3:16-17), and we are assured that if we lack wisdom we may ask God, who will supply it liberally and without reproach (James 1:5).

On a more light-hearted note, I found something at the store the other day that reminds me of my mother's approach to food preparation. She strove to feed us tasty and healthy food, though those two priorities sometimes seemed to be in conflict; she'd sprinkle wheat germ or ground flax seed liberally, use part whole wheat flour in cakes and pancakes rather than just white flour, substitute raw sugar or honey for white sugar, feed us molassas milk rather than chocolate milk, and so forth. I have to say we enjoyed her innovations most of the time, and her home-made whole wheat bread was delicious! As a parent, she was very conscious of our need to consume a proper amount of veggies every day - and she was especially mindful that we get our greens. And really, she wasn't extreme; we all grew up enjoying our ice cream too, and in a whole variety of flavors, mind you.

But one of her tricks was to sneak a little more healthiness into foods by adding a secret ingredient or two of which she would eagerly inform us after we had taken a few bites and agreed to her insistent question, "How do you like the such-and-such? Isn't it good?" Ah, then you knew you didn't want to hear the half-proud, half-penitent confession that was coming: "I put a bit of ___ into the soup. Maybe it was a little too much, but it's so good for you and it really doesn't taste bad, does it?" Sometimes, you'd rather not know. :)

Well, this first parenting book purchase was in honor of my mother. And really, I must confess, I bought it because I was intrigued myself. It's the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld, just out on store shelves and recently featured on Oprah, too. Yes, the author is the wife of Jerry Seinfeld, and it's sprinkled with little quotes from him and their three children. It's a cookbook with various simple recipes in it. The main idea of the book is to put vegetable purees in the dishes you feed your kids. It has breakfast, snack, main dish, and dessert recipes - and frankly, they all look great. I have to say that the brownies with spinach puree pique my curiosity, however; could such a thing possibly be good? But then again, I think back to the "thunder cake" I made with mom in my childhood long ago and smile.

"Thunder cake" was made with a recipe that came with a book called Thunder Cake that we read in elementary school. In it, a girl is visiting her grandma; as a scary storm approaches, they distract themselves by racing with the storm to make a "thunder cake" by the time the storm is overhead and there is no time lapse between the lightning and thunder. They end up feeling brave and happy, eating cake together... it's a really cute story. But anyway, this cake is special because not only is it especially good for making during a thunderstorm, but it's also a scrumptious moist chocolate cake with pureed tomato in it, of all things! So there's the connection; yummy things may be produced from recipes with odd ingredients. Thus, there is hope for the spinach brownies too!

Most of the other recipes in Deceptively Delicious don't look so shockingly weird, thankfully. I think the book will be quite useful in the future - especially if we eventually acquire more freezer space. And the design is really cute and fun. You can read more about it on the book's website, www.deceptivelydelicious.com. And for the author's thoughts on the originality and wisdom of this method of sneaking veggies into foods, check out this page.

Baby kicks vigorously nowadays - I'm sure the most recent burst of energy can be interpreted as a hello to all our friends and family out there. And now, we may go do something fun together in celebration of another of Australia's many public holidays - the Monday after Australia Day. Have a happy, healthy holiday if you're in Oz - and if not, go eat some cake anyway. Maybe even thunder cake!