The older Mr. Boy gets … the more “BOY” he becomes.
If he sees any standing water on the ground — no matter how thin — the child must run to it and commence stomping and splashing. It as through the puddles contain some homing device for him.
He spends hours and HOURS of his day pretending to be an airplane … or a car …. or a super hero of one kind or another. And, of course, every imagined persona or entity has its own sound effects. LOUD sound effects.
And, to my horror, Mr. Boy has become obsessed with all things “gross.” Snot. Boogers. Slime.
If it is disgusting . . . if it oozes . . . if it smells . . . Mr. Boy is in LOVE.
I’m pretty sure the author of the “Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails” poem defining little boys had his or her own Mr. Boy running around. That poem sums hims up perfectly.
He is just ALLLLL boy.
(and, as my grandmother likes to say about his kind …. “But, oh! What a man he will make.”)
When it comes to eating, he is my picky one. The one most likely to turn his nose up at most vegetables and at most meats.
His preferences? Oatmeal, bluebabies (blueberries), redbabies (raspberries), apples, and french fries.
If I would let him eat those food at each and every meal, the child would be blissfully content. But, alas, I’m a mean mommy and I expect my children to sample everything served to them at mealtimes. And, GASP … I expect him to EAT GREEN VEGETABLES!
Mr. Boy is NOT a fan of green vegetables. Every now and then, if the mood strikes, he’ll nibble at roasted broccoli; but this only happens if the stars are perfectly aligned, there is NOT a full moon, and if everyone holds their breath while he eats.
A few weeks ago, however, I discovered a secret to getting my Mr. Boy to eat something healthy and something green: Popeye Smoothies.
Every morning, Mr. Boy asks for a Popeye Smoothie (or what the rest of the world knows as a Green Monster Smoothie); the greener and thicker and “gloopier” it is in his glass, the happier that tyke is.
And, since he has found a new hero in Popeye the Sailor Man, Mr. Boy thinks it is uber-cool to be drinking something Popeye would drink.
AND, it doesn’t hurt that he can give himself a mean mustache and a unibrow while slurping down the smoothie. To a 2.5 year old, facial hair is even more cool that Popeye.
Whatever it takes, right?
Mr. Boy isn’t alone in his love of this drink. Momm, Daddy, and the Little Lady are also fans. The baby spinach yields plenty of iron and calcium but its flavor is masked by the sweet fruit. Using frozen blueberries is not only economical (at my store, I can purchase three times the amount of frozen berries at the same price of fresh berries) but saves you from adding ice for bulk (ice which would melt and water down the texture and flavor of the drink).
If you add Ginger, you get a spicy, pungent bright note — a nice balance to the natural sweet flavor of the green smoothie.
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Inspired by Sing For Your Supper’s Brown Monster Smoothie.
