JD had his 2-year check-up at the beginning of August, at which point we got the all-clear to introduce peanut butter. However, since we’ve gotten into a routine with our eating habits and menus, I find we still haven’t tried it several weeks later.

Over the past few months, we’d slowly been testing the allergy waters by putting pb into some dishes and giving him bites (the biggest hit was a banana-pudding pie with a graham cracker and peanut butter crust). So far it looks like we’re not going to have any adverse reaction.

The taste buds could be a different story. After reading fellow blogger Marcela’s take on the big PB letdown posted here a few months ago, I  am wondering if JD will turn up his nose at the childhood staple.

I’m planning to take the plunge this weekend with a traditional PB&J. We’ll see.

Of late I’d been noticing my almost 3-year-old son had been eating a lot of ice. He points his index finger high in the air and says, “Just one more ice cube, please.” It melts my mommy soul and I almost always open the freezer and give him one. Once he’s done chewing the hard ice, he comes back with an Oliver Twist look, asking for more.

Then a few days ago, a visiting friend told me that his love for ice may be a symptom of a problem — pica, an appetite for non-nutritive foods. It turned out that chewing ice could be a sign of iron deficiency. He also drinks large amounts of water, and that set my brain thinking of other problems like childhood diabetes where kids are thirsty all the time.

In a panic I rushed him to the doctor. It turned out he was fine — he just loves ice and water, the doctor said. What a relief!

Joseph may have trouble enunciating words in his ever-expanding vocabulary, but one comes across loud and clear—cookie.

Almost immediately after waking in the morning, he tries to drag me down to the kitchen pantry chanting, “cookie, cookie.” After we walk in the door in the evening, he makes a beeline for the pantry. If I don’t move, he’ll grab my hand and place it on the doorknob as if to prod me along.

If the desired treat is not forthcoming, the 2-year-old temper ignites complete with scrunched up face, red, tear-streaked cheeks, and stomping feet. It’s gotten to the point that I’ve stopped keeping cookies in the house. I’ve been trying to redirect that hunger to more appropriate snacks like fruit, graham crackers or pretzels, but I’m really wondering how long it will be before I can say the word and not have to spell it out!

Photo by Seth Harrison/The Journal News

Chocolate chip cookies made by Missy Chase Lapine of Irvington with whole grain flour, white beans, wheat germ, and half the sugar found in most cookie recipes. Lapine is the author of “The Sneaky Chef,” a cookbook about sneaking healthy ingredients into kids’ foods.

My children are having a fabulous summer so far-—with two doting grandparents who have taken over the reins at home.

Granny (Patti) is a former art teacher, and spends countless hours creating and teaching Origami designs to the kids-—they are now expert makers of star box, parrot, elf, ladybug and numerous other designs.

The kids have also taken to eating proper South Indian fare for lunch—complete with rice, rasam, kuttu,  poriyal etc.  Besides keeping the kids well-fed, my mother-in-law  also has been treating us to many yummy “tiffin” items—some of which I take to my office for lunch!

Today is one such day:-)

Sadly, our feasting days will soon be over—my in-laws are leaving for India in two weeks, and I am dreading the cereal shelf and the cafeteria lunch:-(

Our first harvest of the season included eggplant, arugula, basil and cilantro.

The kids joined me in putting together an arugula salad, and we decided to add red grapes and pine nuts for color and crunch. For the dressing, we whisked together olive oil, vinegar, Worchestershire sauce, paprika and a pinch of sugar. Delish!

Don’t want to jinx it, but I can hardly resist the first glimmer of hope in my organic vegetable garden.  This is our second year, and buoyed by our beginner’s luck last year (click here for the earlier post), we went all out  this time—with a raised bed and fence.

And the results, so far, are encouraging.

Check out the green tomatoes and the skinny eggplant!

Oh, and we already harvested some arugula last week! I’ll post pictures of the salad soon.

I have long lamented my youngest son’s limited palate. After months of rejecting anything that wasn’t pureed or cracker crisp, he’s now taken to wolfing down salami and chicken nuggets. It’s not something that makes me particularly happy. After all salami is full of nitrites and chicken nuggets are just processed chicken.

I have to take heart in one of his great passions, though — water. He loves to sip water all day, either from his sippy cup or his bottle at night. If he runs out, he politely says, “I’d like a drink of water, please.” If I ask him to try some apple or orange juice, he refuses, “I don’t want to try that,” he says. As much as I’d like him to become more versatile, I’ll have to give him points for clarity and good manners, don’t you think!

I think the love of water comes from my husband. I’ve heard him wax eloquent about the quality of water in his native Lake Tahoe. And he swears by the water we draw from our well In Orange county, and drinks it in copious quantities. Maybe I have something to learn. Maybe should follow their lead.

Over on the Momslikeme Web site…moms are talking about the worst breakfast they’ve ever fed their kids. Answers range from pretzels , ice-cream to chocolate poptarts.

Check it out here. The main page of momslikeme is here.

As for me, I’ve noticed that my two-year-old isn’t a breakfast person until about two hours after she’s been up. Routine is milk first thing in the morning, followed up by a rejection of the Cheerios, the bread and/or bananas. I’ve even tried giving her chocolate-chip muffins, pancakes and other doughy, sugary treats. Not interested.

She comes around though later in the morning for her daily YoBaby yogurt fix.

My daughter does not eat as healthy as I do. She’s 2 and whenever you ask her what she wants to eat, she says chicken and pasta or rice. Chips is another frequent response.

The other day when I was eating salmon and quinoa, I put a forkful to her mouth and told her it was chicken and rice. She fell for it and proceeded to finish off my plate. I felt victorious but a little guilty that I fooled her into thinking it was something that it wasn’t. I must admit though on another day when my sister was eating a tuna steak, I told her to tell my daughter it was chicken. She ate that too.

Any thoughts on my strategy?

I’ve been making a point of putting more sprouts in my diet. They’re great in salads and with sandwiches. But this just in, beware of the alfalfa sprout!!!

There appears to be a salmonella outbreak in the alfalfa kingdom. Read more about it here.