Sweet Potato

The other day I was making a casserole to welcome a new family to the neighborhood (complete lie, it was for us, I don't like most of our neighbours) and during the preparation I discovered I had forgotten to buy sweet potato which happened to be the key ingredient for this particular recipe. BB (before baby) I would have swooped up my car keys and wallet, and headed to the supermarket without a second thought. BB I would have used fresh herbs that ended up costing more than the meat. BB I may have even made my own stock (gasp!). BB I wanted maximum success from each recipe to ensure appropriate levels of praise from my husband. However, the other day when faced with my sweet potato dilemma, I did a quick outing versus outcome analysis and decided that I would use carrot instead.

I'm curious as to whether other mother's do this analysis when weighing up daily excursions. For the instance above, the 10 minute eating experience and 5 second grumble of gratitude from my husband, was not worth the 10 minutes of planning and 25 minute excursion to get the ingredient (pram in, pram out, pram in , pram out...). The scales might have been tipped if it had been an anniversary dinner, or friends were joining us or if I needed an excuse to buy donuts, but it was just a weekday dinner, the two of us and I had some posh ice cream to distract me from the donuts.

Going to the shops for a last minute purchase isn't what it used to be. It's only a two minute drive, but it can literally end in tears if my son falls asleep on the way and I have to wake him to put him into the pram. So I plan short trips for when he has just woken, had a feed and still has a few minutes of good mood in him. If he is tired, I sing and make silly noises to keep him awake. Yes, I'm that weird person. I also don't want him to fall asleep in the pram for the five minutes I'm in the supermarket, because then I have to wake him to put him back in the car. A five minute pram catnap often results in him not going down for his next nap which means an over tired child and no opportunity to actually cook dinner anyway.

The preparation involved tires me just thinking about it. Do I have nappies, wipes and a spare change of clothes in case he does one of his infamous poos in the small time we are there? Is the pram in the car? Do I have spew rag for the inevitable vom as I'm getting him out of the car? I dress him in a billion layers of clothing to protect him from Melbourne's winter and find a hat for his bald little head. I then force myself to change out of my dirty house trackies into some clean trackies (because I've got class) and put on a billion layers of clothing myself. It's a lot of effort for donuts...I mean sweet potato.

The bigger car trips require even more planning. I tend to leave at nap times to ensure he sleeps because I can't listen to 45 minutes of heartbreaking tears. There is only so much entertainment value I can offer from the drivers seat and like me, my son is easily bored. Sadly, he is too young for car games, and I've recently been advised by my husband that the games I play (most of which I make up as I go) are not fun anyway. I disagree and believe that when my son is a little older he will hop into the car and feel like he is boarding the party bus. I can hear crickets chirping as I type.

In the old days, women used to run next door to borrow a cup of sugar. I understand this now. A trip to the supermarket must have been a nightmare with their large herds of children and lack of modern conveniences. Perhaps it's time I stopped judging my neighbours by their front yards and started sharing pantry essentials. So next time you need a sweet potato, feel free to knock on my door. I probably won't have one to give but I should be able to offer a carrot substitute and a few tips on maintaining your lawn.