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Candy Elegy
Well it is very sad, but my children's dentist has instructed me to make the greatest efforts to avoid gummy things. Chocolate is fine but all gummies, from vitamins all the way through to bears are highly frowned upon.
Naturally I think about this because of the tremendous rejoicing that happened when some individually wrapped gummy brains showed up in a pre-Halloween goodie bag. And of course it means trying to squelch my own tendencies in the children.
I love candy, particularly what my sibling calls "pretty candy"-- garish colors, odd shapes, strong flavors (particularly black licorice) and all. Chocolate is not so much my thing, though I can appreciate the wonders of a chocolate factory as much as the next kid.
So it was with some pain that I saw that an old favorite is changing. I am among the few, the proud who love Necco wafers. I love them. I love them for their spackle like qualities and their peculiar flavors, for their odd colors. They are perhaps the only dusty food I enjoy. I know that Martha Stewart would only consider them worthy of being shingles on her tasteful gingerbread houses, but I can consume them with unabashed passion. (I was chided once because they are apparently not vegetarian, but since I am not either, this fact didn't bother me-- I merely point this out for you readers who may be tempted to seek out Neccos because of my tempting description. Words like "spackle" and "dusty" surely make a food sound irresistible.)
But now my beloved may be taking a turn for the worse. Apparently Necco has decided to do the unthinkable and make this candy healthy, or if not "healthy" at least somehow pure and all natural. Why this is necessary is beyond me since it is hardly the kind of candy children gobble down hand over fist and grown-ups who care deeply about avoiding a bit of food dye are surely not the people who are buying Necco wafers in bulk. Anyway, it is very sad and even sadder is that green Neccos (one of my favorite flavors-- and yes I like the clove ones too) are vanishing because there is no natural enough green coloring agent. As my mother would say-- and will when she hears about this: "They've changed it, and now it's not good."
On the other hand, the New York Times has finally managed to make me feel less bad about myself and my sugar habit by interviewing Paul Rudnick about his diet which consists almost entirely of candy. There's a man after my own heart.
Maybe I can live his lifestyle for a couple of days after Halloween, depending on the kind of haul my kids bring in... though I do fear the worst. We live in a land of unpleasant neighbors.
posted by Elise at 6:07 AM
4 Comments
Prickly
I am usually a bit shmoo-like when it comes to playground strife. When trouble starts to erupt I just ooze my children away from the problem and start whatever game it is again. One of my kids is better at this than the other (who is a bit scrappier by nature) but even that one can be lured away.
Anyway, I'm not much troubled by the playground. Much.
I can, however be disgusted as I was over the weekend when some mildly older child, apparently put off by the way in which Sebastian was loitering decided to spit on him. And then I stepped in. Sebastian was mostly baffled and starting to get upset and the kid appeared to be waiting to see what Sebastian's next move would be. What he got instead was me telling him that he should leave my kid alone and that spitting was disgusting. Then his sister, who must have been in first grade or so, appeared and had to be told that her brother spat on another kid and that seemed to satisfy her because she opted to hang upside down on the jungle gym in response.
Now, I left it at that because I didn't want to talk to this little boy's parent or caregiver or whatever and dutifully wiped and Purelled my kid down and went on with things...
But I have to say, if my kid spat on anyone, I would want to hear about it pronto. I would want to know so I could exact some form of instant punishment, beginning with an extraction from the playground. It would be very important to me, actually, to know what happened. But I know my preferences are not everyone's.
Was there some disservice in saying nothing? Or was my conflict-avoidance actually the preferred route to take?
And I have to say, I was indeed completely repulsed. I was actually somewhat more repulsed by the spitting than I was at the sight of a couple of kids happily chasing down a rat somewhat later in the day. I knew the rat wouldn't let the kids actually touch him (her?), but the spitting... that's something else entirely.
posted by Elise at 5:35 AM
0 Comments
Gothic Sublime
One of the problems I've been contemplating of late with what I write here is how to talk about aspects of parenting that are quotidian but aren't necessarily the kind of things one finds oneself contemplating all the time anyway.
I hadn't realized I was struggling with this until I started thinking about a book I just read.
Emily Fox-Seton, Being the Making of a Marchioness and the Methods of Lady Walderhurst is actually two books (the two are named after the comma). It was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, better known for her children's books, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Anyway, what occurred to me as I read it, is how the first book, which is quite short, a novella really, is a comedy of manners, a little trifle about marriage. The second book, however, which has many of the same characters, and is quite similar stylistically, is a tale of Gothic intrigue. What's the difference? In the second book, there has been a marriage and two of the characters are knocked up. The story could easily have continued as a comedy but the introduction of the pregnancies turns things into a story of potential murder. It is something of a page-turner, in fact, and it is interesting to contemplate its themes in light of the very modern statistics about pregnant women being so susceptible to murder.
And if that isn't enough to recommend it, the book was one of Nancy Mitford's favorites.
posted by Elise at 2:58 PM
1 Comments
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