The Cookie Store

Yesterday, I took Lily to the beach. We threw rocks into the waves, walked to the end of the pier, and saw two beautiful cranes and an alligator. Then, we went to McDonald's. We bought a milk and played in the indoor play area. Slides, tunnels, and tons of kids were all there for Lily to enjoy, and she did enjoy McDonald's for about an hour. Then we went to Five Seasons Whole Foods Market, AKA - the cookie store. Followed by a trip to the grocery store and then a trip to a local playground. We then went home, had some lunch and took a nap.

After Lily's nap, and after dinner, she was taking a bath and we were having a little chat. I asked Lily what we did today and she said, "we went to the cookie store." I thought that was funny seeing as how we did so many things, the only thing that had an impact on her was the cookie store.

Long story short is that Lily has a hard time digesting wheat, oat, corn, and egg. Those things make her sick and we found this out when she was only 9 months old. Living in Japan I didn't have access to the things I have access to here in America. One of those things is stores that carry cookies which are somehow magically made without any of the above mentioned ingredients. I tried making baked goods for Lily myself a few times, I tried mail ordering baked good for Lily a couple of times, while we were living in Japan. But, for the most part poor little miss Lily had never had a cookie in all her three years and 9 months of her life. Poor dear. She actually had rarely had sugar either. Poor, poor, Lily.

So we found the "cookie store". I actually find it ironic that I go to the health food store in order to buy junk food for my kid. he he, I will probably get struck by lightning for saying that.

When people find out about Lily's food issues they become fraught with anxiety and ask me what in the world the child eats. I am thinking to myself, ummm ....food, she eats food. Stuff like meat, potatoes, veggies, fruits, rice, beans, cheese, nuts - you know the stuff in the grocery store hidden around the edges. We don't really even go down the isles anymore, nothing from a box, or a can, or a bag for Lily. I guess I have just gotten used to cooking this way for her.

We eat bananas with peanut butter. We eat sweet rice with blueberries. We eat French fried potatoes (that I cut and fry myself) covered in fresh grated cheese. We eat meat at almost every meal, seasoned with salt, maybe some lemon and garlic or cheese. I am a pretty boring cook. We eat beans and rice, we eat lots of green beans and broccoli. Lot of nuts, Lily loves nuts, mostly pistachios and cashews, she wouldn't touch a peanut with a ten foot pole, but loves all natural peanut butter, by the spoon or on bananas. She loves all kinds of fruit, mostly the expensive stuff, like strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, and raspberries. We eat carrots and squash a lot too. I am a horrid and boring cook so I shy away from questions of what we eat because it is embarrassing, that I serve my family such plain and boring food all the time. Poor family.

Anyways, now I have learned the power of the cookie. Lily will do anything for a cookie. She will finish her dinner. She will stop saying that word that she has refused to stop saying for the past three weeks that someone taught her and she repeats every time we leave the house. Basically cookies are like gold. Now I know why other mommies get that look in their eye when they find out I didn't give her cookies, cakes, ice cream or candy. Now I know why Lily never listened to me before now. Just kidding. But, I am loving the cookies.

We may have accidentally bought the last box of cookies in the cookie store and the lady at the counter said they were on order. What will I do without my cookies. We have been back to the store and bought a box of cookies three times this past week. It was the only box of cookies in the entire store with no egg, wheat, corn or oat. It is a hard combination to try to remove from baked goods. I seriously stop by there almost everyday and see what is in and say hello. Bonus is that I found a playground just down the street and a little mom and pop grocery store on the way home.

These people know me well enough now after one week , that they strike up conversations with me. Just yesterday the lady stocking the apples talked to me for fifteen minutes about the Wiggles. But, nothing beats the cookie store.