Muice

While I was pregnant, and then after I had Sprout, I was urged to join WIC (Women, Infants, Children), a federal program geared towards low/no-income pregnant women and children up to the age of five. It's supposed to help ensure proper nutrition all around. I resisted until after she was born, then signed up...because have you SEEN the price of formula? Holy carp, you'd think it was liquid gold! WIC involves classes, vouchers, and visits with nutritionists, and I must admit it has been a boon given our struggles.

The variety of folk who utilize the program fascinates me. That I seem to have more than the average number of teeth alarms me. I don't mean to sound uppity, because I DO call my region of the world Redneck Central, and I fit right in...but there really is a stunning lack of dentition in the WIC waiting room. There is also a marked lack of English spoken, but that's par for the region as well - there is a booming Latino population in the area thanks to both agricultural and industrial concerns. I am one of the very few people in my neighborhood who does not bad-mouth immigrants of legal or illegal status. I am learning Spanish, bonus for me!

At our one-year visit, the nutritionist declared the end of formula for us, and on to solids and milk drinking. I didn't see that as too much of an issue, as Bird had been weaned from the bottle on his first birthday and never looked back.

Sprout, on the other hand, took exception - not to the lack of bottle, but to the milk. Milk, it seems, is beverage-non-grata in her lexicon. Oh, dear...now what?

We decided what the heck, we'd mix in a little juice and see what happened.

We call it Muice (sounds like moose), and she thinks it's just fine. She'll drink up to three cups of it in a day. The ratio, at the moment, is four ounces of milk to two ounces of juice. We'll start using more milk, less juice, as time goes on. I wonder how anyone expects a baby to drink 24 ounces of milk day - good grief, she won't have room for food!

Odd combinations are the order of the day, for our Sprout. She changes her mind about what is good eats on a regular basis, keeping me on my toes. Some things make a good hiding place for less popular foods - you can hide a world of food-sins in mashed up apples, pears, or blueberries.

Our vouchers permit us to purchase a certain amount of produce ($6.00), bread-type foods (up to two bread, tortillas, brown rice, or whole-grain sandwich buns), beans (1 pound or four cans), a dozen eggs, and four gallons of milk and two jugs of juice a month. The milk is insane - we can't use it all up! I'm actually drinking milk - and I loathe milk. Bleh! My bones have a different opinion, though, so I man up and drink the vile stuff...

So thanks for the groceries - if you pay taxes, you're buying food for my baby, and I appreciate that. She's raising a cup of muice in your honor.