Thank You for Fathers!

It's almost the weekend. We are running low on food supply. There's a last batch of fruits in the refrigerator that we can juice, some slices of wheat bread, and frozen cold cuts. I try to finish up on work from last night and haven't slept. The caffeine from the coffee I drank early that morning is beginning to fade. I'm sleepy and hungry. Inigo comes to me and asks me to play with him. The room is a mess as usual. Toys and books on the floor. Small pieces of playdough are all over our bed. It's sunny outside and we hear the gate open. The Daddy has arrived. He comes up to say "Hi" and goes out again. He comes back inside the room with this:

Turkey pastrami sandwich, freshly juiced watermelon with basil, feta cheese on crackers

Thank you for fathers!

A Balanced Diet

Being healthy shouldn't stop at eating nutritious food. Our meals should also be well-balanced. Here's a list of the food groups that should comprise a toddler's daily food intake according to USDA. Younger ones aged 2-3 yrs old are required at least 2/3 portion of the following:

Grain group: 6 servings
(Serving size examples: 1 slice bread, i/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta; 1/2 cup of cooked cereal, 1 ounce of ready to eat cereal)

Vegetable group: 3 servings
(1/2 cup of chopped raw or cooked vegetables, 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables)

Fruit group: 2 servings
(1 piece of fruit or melon wedge, 3/4 cup of juice, 1/2 cup of canned fruit, 1/4 cup of dried fruit)

Milk group: 2 servings
1 cup of milk or yogurt, 2 ounces of cheese

Meat group: 2 servings
(2 to 3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry, or fish, 1/2 cup of cooked dry beans, 1 egg counts as 1 ounce of lean meat, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter count as 1 ounce of meat

Fats and sweets: Limit calories from these

Here's another guide I got that we try to adapt at home once in a while (it's for vegetarians and we aren't). It's comprised of indigenous kinds of food that's actually better as they're locally available and most are chemical-free:

Alphabet Dad

May I tell you how awesome my husband (a.k.a. Alphabet Dad) is?

He is the amalgamation of all the father figures I have come to know. In some ways, he's like my own father, other times, he reminds me of my brothers-in-law. He's firm yet sweet, serious yet has a good sense of humor, and most of all, he's a great husband and father to our son. You see, I'm never the organized homemaker type. My closet is always a mess. My mail inbox is full of unread mails and I hardly use subfolders for my data library. Imagine so much PNG, Word, Excel, and Acrobat files in one huge folder, waiting to be sorted, classified, and kept in their specific folders. I have collected the planners they give away at coffeeshops on Christmas for the past several years, only to browse over blank pages of daily schedules after each year. I only decided to stop probably after five planners, so yeah, I thought it was a great waste of stickers and money on the coffee I never really liked anyway. I'm digressing. My husband's closet is pristine. He keeps his underwear and socks in separate boxes. He has a space for each of his clothing item. He cleans his shoes every week. I'm envious of his closet that I always ask him to help me organize mine too. He's never helped me in that aspect though. But I'm glad that he's owned the task of keeping all important documents in the family, receipts of our appliances for the warranty, our son's birth and baptismal certificates, passports, check books, passbooks, even our monthly bill statements are clipped together. We're always on time with our monthly utility dues, all thanks to him! I really, really love him for being the organized and responsible husband and father that he is. I know it's a trait that I want him to pass on to our son someday.

I remember when we were just dating, he would pay for all our dates (he does this even now, most of the time, and you're right, we still date). He even paid for my Boracay trip on my 25th birthday. It was just the beginning of years of happy birthdays for me. He's known to be tightfisted with money, but when it comes to me and the things I really like doing, he's quite extravagant, if you know what I mean. Once he was laid off from work. We went on a vacation to Singapore and Malaysia using the lump sum separation pay that was given him. As long as it's for travel to somewhere we both like, he's always game. Anyway, as the head of the family, I can attest that he's a very good provider. He was laid off once but after that episode, the grass became so much greener for his career. I mean, we don't have much but we manage to have a comfortable life, and that's what's important.

As parents, we are still both learning. Our son adores him as much as we adore our son. They'd spend the day reading, playing, talking, and doing lots of learning together while I'm at work. He's the hands-on Dad if you want to call him that. He respects my decisions and supports me in the things that matter to me. Yesterday, we were at the canned goods aisle of the grocery and I told him we need to stop buying and eating processed foods and strive to be healthier. He agreed and this week, our cupboard is canned goods-free (well, except for the canned squid that's to be our yaya's emergency food). Yay! As I've been doing the past weeks, I would prepare healthy lunch for my son and husband before leaving for work and cook healthy dinner again when I get back. This week though, I would also prepare my husband's baon. Well, there's the ever reliable google for recipes on which snack to prepare.



It's tough being a newbie parent. I'm just super lucky and grateful that I have the greatest partner in the whole world.