Yes, that is cereal for dinner. That was your meal tonight.
Why do I care so much that I fed you cereal for supper? Why did it feel like a failure? I actually snapped this photo to show your Dad my dinner fail.
But I shouldn’t feel bad because it isn’t a failure. You even picked the arguably boring, healthy adult cinnamon protein cereal. You asked for blueberries in it. All just floating in unsweetened almond milk. Served up with a side of cantaloupe and water. All of which is pretty healthy.
So why did I feel guilty for feeding you cereal for supper? Pretty sure I shouldn’t. Even if it was a supper of sugar-packed, chemical-stuffed, mystery marshmallow kind of cereal. With a side of nothing. I shouldn’t feel guilty.
We are lucky to have food to feed you. Not every family does. You went to bed with a full tummy, a privilege denied to many.
We have a little new baby in the house. A baby who hates being put down now that she is adjusting to daycare. Which makes preparing an actual hot meal difficult (if not impossible).
And this week your Daddy is on call, and working to solve someone else’s problem, helping someone else get home to be with their family, instead of being here with us.
Cereal is what was for supper – for the second time this week.
And I felt so guilty. Until we were cuddled up in your bed after the baby was asleep. I was singing you our special bedtime song when you interrupted me:
“Mommy?”
“Yeah, buddy?”
“Thanks for that protein cereal, it was really good.”
