About Distracted Daddy
Distracted Daddy is a working father with a two-year-old daughter, a focused wife and a flatulent pug. When he’s not distracted he blogs about poop, parenting and other things at distracteddaddy.com.
Going Nuts
the fatherlode: close encounter of the peanut kind canada
(Sep.08.11)
The humble peanut. That tiny legume can spark terror into the hearts of new parents everywhere. Peanuts are danger minefields. You’re not even supposed to introduce them to your child until after two. At least according to our doctor.
My daughter lived her first two years peanut-free. (-ish.)
She sampled Thai food once or twice. They always pad the Pad Thai with peanuts. We may have buttered our daughter’s toast with butter after buttering ours with peanut butter and failed to clean or swap the knife. I think she even had pasta sauce with pine nuts once.
We did our best to keep the nuts at bay. We bought various non-nut butters. They were varying degrees of disgusting; in taste, texture and viscosity. Soy nut and pumpkin seed butter, I’m talking to you.
Recently our daughter turned two and the nuts were waiting.
The question then became, how exactly do you introduce peanuts?
Did the monocled Mr. Peanut require a formal invitation to come over and exchange pleasantries with our daughter?
Then there was the question of options. If I was going to introduce my daughter to the wonderful word of the good goober, what should her first taste be?
Do I go all out with a Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait? Or start slow with a simple dry-roasted peanut? Or honey roasted? Should I show her Reese’s crowning glory, the Peanut Butter Cup? Or his lesser, but still loved, Pieces?
Would we smear some Jif on her leg as we waited outside the doctor for her two-year check up? Should we dial 9-1 and then give her some peanut butter?
It was a worrisome and difficult decision. We settled on straight peanut butter on toast. Why mess with a classic?
She ate the peanut buttered toast with voracious glee. My wife and I stared at her intently. Nothing happened. Then we waited. Still nothing. We checked her body for reactions. Nothing. She slept through the night. She was peanut-allergen free.
We were relieved. And then another question came to mind.
Will she like crunchy or smooth?
Ours is a house divided. I’m crunchy. My wife is smooth. There are two separate jars of peanut butter in the cupboard. Where will our daughter fall? Which camp will she choose? Only time and bribery will tell.
-Team Crunchy.
Thought that was sweet? You'll enjoy: